All I Want, All You Need
by Cygrus
Summary: Emil has been moved to England from Iceland to live with his brother and attend school. He has no intentions of making friends, but when a new student from Hong Kong arrives, he has to worry more about not falling in love. And his licorice supply.
1. Chapter 1

**WHAT.**

**WHAT IS THIS?**

**You guys, my loyal watchers, I apologize. I haven't updated _'Cheap Bottles of Wine'_ in a month. _A fucking month._**

**And I give you this. I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON. **

**So, um, this was written as a rough draft when I went to Darxetta's house. And I liked it, so, uh, tada? **

**All of this will be from Iceland's POV, as far as I'm concerned. And there's no telling on how quickly I'll update this, since I haven't thought of _too _much plot yet. **

**_NAME GUIDE:_**

**Emil - Iceland**

**Lukas - Norway**

**Mathias - Denmark**

**_WORD COUNT: _3,747**

**I really hope you like this, broski's.**_  
><em>

* * *

><p>My birth was unexpected and no one had been prepared for it in the least. My family had been in Iceland visiting my mother's relatives when her water suddenly broke. I was two months early. Despite this, though, I was perfectly healthy, even though I was incredibly small. My mother described my coming into the world a miracle, as she knew some premature children passed away.<p>

When I was three months old, we took a plane back to Norway, my father's native country and the country where my older brother of four years was born.

From what I was told, we had a happy family life full of laughter and smiles. My parents adored my brother and I, practically spoiling us. But that all ended one night when a violent argument erupted between my parents, apparently due to conflicting views or something. I was never told. My brother had tried to break them apart before rushing from the room and taking me with him. I can vaguely remember him cowering in a dark corner and clutching onto my confused self as if holding on for dear life. His body trembled and he rocked back and forth, whispering incoherent words to me. I was confused, I know that, and I could hear loud shouts and yells coming from another room.

Two months after the argument and a month after I had turned two, my mother grabbed me up and fled back to Iceland to live with her parents. Life in our home after the argument had supposedly been rough on Mom and she just couldn't take it anymore. That's what Grandma told me, at least. And after another month, my parents were legally divorced. Mom took custody of me and Dad took custody of my brother. Mom was very upset at the outcome of not having her two sons with her, so she took to spoiling me with all her might. I didn't ask for much though. One of the most important things I asked for was a stuffed puffin toy, which Mom bought for me in a heartbeat.

For two years, our separated family had nothing to do with each other, my parents refusing to speak with one another. And by that time, I had entirely forgotten about having an older brother. Mom reminded me of him, though, for she informed me us siblings would soon meet. Our parents had become civil enough to decide that they couldn't keep us away from each other forever.

Mom informed me one cool summer evening of my brother's soon to be arrival. We had been quietly sitting on the back porch, sharing a bag of licorice and watching the sunset. My small form had leaned against her thin arm, content with the silence as I usually was.

"Lukas will be here next week," she spoke, a small smile gracing her delicate features. I turned my head up to her, a look of puzzlement upon my face. I popped another piece of licorice in my mouth before speaking.

"Who's Lukas?" I asked, truly confused. She looked down at me, her eyes meeting my blue ones. They were sad looking, but her smile remained. She lifted a hand and ran her small fingers through my platinum blond, almost white, hair.

"Lukas is your older brother. He's eight years old now," she explained, a look of fondness overtaking her face. "He's living in Norway in with your father." The last word she said was spoken with a highly bitter tone, and it had caught me off guard from my usually sweet mother. But I didn't say anything about it. I had been more focused on the revelation of having a brother.

"I have an older brother?" She nodded in answer. I looked to my lap, then back to her. "What's he like?" Mom bit her lip and looked away, clasping her hands together in her lap.

"I'm not so sure, dear," she said, her voice dripping with guilt. "I haven't seen him in two years. But he seemed pleased to talk to me over the phone." I silently ate a few pieces of licorice while listening to her. She had always said I was a great listener and a very smart child.

"He's coming next week?" She nodded again and smiled when she saw a grin break across my face. I pressed my legs against my chest and rested my chin on my knees, rocking back and forth slightly. I couldn't help but feel excited at meeting this boy, my brother. Did he look like me? What's his personality? Does he have the same hobbies as I do?

I must have fallen asleep while thinking all this, for the next thing I recall is waking up in my bed, sunlight pouring in through my windows.

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><p>When we arrived at the airport, we quickly found Lukas. Mom had hugged him, tears swimming in her eyes at seeing her son again. He hugged her back, clutching onto the fabric of her dress. And when he looked at me, I froze and waited for him to say something. His first words took me aback, though.<p>

_"Call me Older Brother."_

I fidgeted nervously, but quickly agreed to it. This seemed to please him, for the next thing I knew, he had his arms wrapped around my shoulders, embracing me with a firm hold.

Lukas was a stoic, lanky boy with blond hair that was a tad bit darker than mine and he had a strange curl sticking out from the side of his head. It was so thin that it was almost as if it were floating and not actually attached. When you looked into his dark blue eyes, you could practically see a void of nothing. And his personality was fairly emotionless. He barely ever smiled.

I remember returning from the airport and watching Lukas be greeted with hugs and kisses from our grandparents. He seemed happy to see them as well.

Lukas and I became very close quickly and he was fairly clingy to me. I didn't understand it, and when I asked Mom, she answered by telling me that when she was pregnant with me, Lukas was very excited to be an older brother. When I was born, he would help Mom care for me. She said he would even sing lullabies to help me drift off into sleep. In other words, he had always wanted to be my role model, someone who I could look up to. And in all honesty, it turned out that way. In my eyes, Lukas was amazing. He would tell me tales of trolls and fairies and of magical lands. I would sit and listen, entranced by the beautiful landscapes he would describe in vivid detail.

Our parents worked out a deal about Lukas and I visiting each other. The summer after Lukas visited Iceland, I flew to Norway to bond with my father. Dad was a tall man with a stern looking face and a personality to match. But deep down, he was actually very kind and caring. But there was a distinct difference between how Lukas acted with Dad and with Mom. When around our mother, he was always gentle and kind. He would hold her hand and stroke it gently, and every once in a while, I would catch a faint smile on his face.

But with Dad, it was as if he were someone completely different. He was defiant, cold, rude and when he spoke directly to our father, his voice dripped with sarcasm. They would often bicker and more times than one, I would hear Lukas mutter under his breath, cursing Dad for separating him and I. Since I was at such a young age, I was confused at why Lukas despised our father so much, but I never questioned it.

One year while I was visiting them, a particularly rough argument sounded between the two. Lukas had retreated to his room while Dad sighed, exasperated, and ran his fingers through his hair. He sat down on the couch, rubbing his eyes which had very dark circles underneath them. He caught me watching and sent me a tired smile, saying I could go to my room. I complied with it and hurried up the stairs. But I had paused when I heard a soft sob come from Lukas's room. I peeked in through the crack in his doorway, watching as he lay on his bed, crying and holding onto a stuffed pink rabbit toy. I had wanted to go in and say something, anything, to him, but I was too frightened to do so at the time.

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><p>In the summer of the year Lukas had turned ten and I had turned turned six, he was back in Iceland visiting Mom and I. He acted a bit differently, though. He spoke to Mom and I plenty, but a lot of his time was spent at the kitchen table as he scribbled down words onto a blank piece of paper. After that, he would take the paper to Mom, who would seal it in an envelope and place it in the mailbox for him. And everyday, he would check to see if anything new had arrived for him.<p>

After a few days, he would receive a reply to his letter. He acted nonchalant about it, but Mom would tease him about that very clear spark of eagerness in his eyes. He would fervently deny the statements, though.

I once asked him what he was doing that seemed so important. He looked to me, then back to the paper and wrote a few mores lines, then returned his gaze to mine, finally deciding to answer my question. He seemed a bit hesitant, almost embarrassed, at first.

Apparently, a project at Lukas's school had required the students to write to a pen pal regularly. Lukas had been partnered with an eleven year older Danish boy named Mathias Køhler. The project was long over with, but the two had become such great friends that they continued to write to one another. Sometimes I would hear Lukas talking on the phone and I could only assume it was Mathias he was speaking to. What confused me was, if they were such close friends, why did Lukas always sound so annoyed and distant when speaking to the other boy? I didn't question it, though. I had no reason to.

I remember once asking Lukas if he liked Mathias. I was too young to understand love completely, and I had believed the question was entirely normal. Lukas replied by giving me a stern no, but I did manage to catch the pink tint that had sprung to his cheeks when he had said this.

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><p>When I was twelve and Lukas was sixteen, upon arriving to Iceland, he informed Mom he was dating someone. Mom inquired as to if the girl was pretty, to which he responded by coolly telling her he was involved with another male. He spoke clearly and with confidence, but I could tell he was nervous as to what she would say. Thankfully, Mom took it in stride, which visibly relieved him. Her next question was what was the other boy like.<p>

_"He's an idiot."_

Mom had chuckled at this statement, finding it very amusing. Lukas couldn't help but smile at her, the chime of laughter very calming to him. She continued to ask questions about his partner and he answered them all, still giving snarky remarks about the man.

It turned out that Lukas was dating Mathias, his former pen pal. His school had taken a trip to Denmark, and a week prior to departure, the two made a plan to where they could meet in private. From what I was told, upon meeting each other, Mathias confessed having feelings for Lukas and had asked him to be his boyfriend. Obviously, Lukas agreed to it.

I was very confused at the time, for I had thought only men and women could be together in romantic relationships. Curiosity hit me hard, and I finally decided to ask Lukas about the strange phenomena. I had accidentally walked in on one of his phone calls to Mathias.

"You're an idio-I have to go. My little brother is here." He glanced down at me, listening to the words being said on the other line. "Hmph. Annoying." With that, he hung up and turned his attention to me fully. I didn't hesitate on asking, for I felt completely at ease when asking Lukas these sort of things.

"Why are you with another boy?" I asked, tightening my grip on my puffin toy. Lukas looked at the ceiling, pondering on how to answer my question, before patting the spot next to him on the bed. I climbed onto it and made myself comfortable, then looked back to him, waiting for an answer.

"It may sound strange, I know," he started, "but when you're in love, it doesn't matter what gender they are or who they once were." He noticed the confused look in my eyes and smiled, his generally blank eyes soft. He patted my head gently. "You'll understand one day."

Little did I know is that someday I would understand all too well.

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><p>Through the years, I noticed Mom was becoming weaker and weaker with each passing day. A month after I turned fifteen, she was hospitalized. Upon hearing the news, Lukas hopped onto the quickest flight headed for Iceland. When he arrived, him and I sat by her hospital bed, praying for her to be okay. Within a week, she passed away due to cancer.<p>

Lukas and I were generally detached, barely showing any emotion, but for the weeks after Mom's death, we showed more emotion than ever. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and rush to the guest room, looking for comfort from my older brother. And he offered it, being as calm as possible without breaking down into tears himself.

Lukas stayed with me and our grandparents for a month before he finally had to return to college. It was obvious he didn't want to part from me, shown through the numerous and random hugs he gave me while waiting to board his flight. At last, we said our goodbyes to each other.

I stayed with my grandparents before they decided it was an _excellent _idea for me to go stay with Lukas and Mathias in England, where the two attended college together. I denied doing so at first, not wishing to leave my home and beloved country and few friends I had. After a few more tries, though, I caved. And Lukas was ever so happy to welcome me into him and Mathias's home. A bit too happy for my liking.

And so here I am, Emil Steilsson Bondevik, aged sixteen years old and living with my clingy twenty year old brother and his over the top twenty one year old boyfriend(Lukas hadn't been lying when he said Mathias was an idiot.) in London, England in their three bedroom apartment. An Icelandic native about to enter his eleventh year of school.

And, oh, how I am dreading it.

First off, I'm not the tallest teenager you'll come across. And my skin is fairly pale. Another down is that I'm naturally feminine looking. Lukas and I got that from our mother, neither one of us taking too much after Dad. And I'm lanky, to say the least. And then there's my accent. My horribly thick accent that is going to stand out so much from all the British I will hear. To top it all off, the school I'm attending is a private school that is combined with Lukas's college. Joyous.

I had myself comfortable on my new bed, my face buried in the pillow. I could barely hear Lukas and Mathias in the kitchen, bickering about something. I heard footsteps approach my room and remained still as someone opened my door.

"Em! Time for dinner!" Mathias chirped. I lifted my face from the pillow, glowering at him.

"Don't call me that," I said, my voice angry. Mathias's stupid grin remained as he stood in the doorway, waiting for me to get up and join them. Instead of doing that, though, I allowed my face to meet the pillow once more. I heard Mathias sigh in defeat.

"Em, come on. You've barely eaten anything while you've been here. You've got to be hungry!" I grunted in response. "Lukas, your brother won't eat again!" Mathias whined in his obnoxious tone. I listened as Lukas approached.

"Make him," he ordered calmly. Mathias groaned.

"I barely just met the kid! I'm not force feeding him!"

"You can try."

"But Lukas-!"

"You can try."

I was getting fed up with listening to the two and decided to speak.

"I'm right here, you know. Would you kindly leave me alone?" I said bitterly. Mathias whispered something to Lukas and Lukas whispered back before I heard retreating footsteps. I thought they were gone, so I lifted my head only to find Lukas still standing there, his blank eyes staring at me.

"Brother," he said, making his way over to me and taking a seat on my bed. "We should talk."

"And if I don't want to?" I questioned, giving him a weak glare.

"We should talk," he repeated, making his point clear. Sighing, I sat up straight and looked straight at him, our eyes meeting. "I know you don't want to be here." No, _really? _"And I know England isn't one of your favorite places, but you can try to make the best out of this." I looked down at my lap, frowning. I never was sure how I should respond to him in these kind of situations.

"It's just, Lukas-"

"Older brother."

"-_Lukas_, I've lived in Iceland practically my entire life. The only other place I've been to is Norway." And it was true. Our family was never big on traveling. "I left my home, the country I fell in love with, just to come here because people thought it would be "best" for me. And I feel as if staying in Iceland _was _best for me. I didn't have many friends, but I would of preferred graduating with them rather than people I don't know at all." I paused, thinking of how to continue supporting my thoughts when Lukas cut in.

"Make new friends," he said, and I mentally laughed. On the outside, I drew my lips into a thin line and fought the urge to punch him.

"Easier said than done," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I'm like you in that retrospect. I don't get along with people too well." It was true. People just never appealed to me. Especially teenagers. All teenagers did, from what I've read and watched, are whine about their love lives and how their heart would be broken, only to get a new lover the next week. Then there was constant back stabbing between so called friends. All of it was an utter turn off.

Lukas continued to eye me, thinking on what I had said. Finally, he shrugged.

"You can do it," he reassured, giving me a thumbs up. How cliche of him. I glared before flopping back down onto my bed, grumbling to myself. Lukas touched my back tenderly, rubbing it.

"Don't touch me," I muttered, but the words were muffled by the pillow.

"I understand what you're saying, but this is what Mom wanted for you." Damn. He knew exactly how to get into my head. Stupid brother.

I peered at him and his face was a tad bit softer looking. His hand made its way to my head, petting my hair. I once again told him not to touch me. I felt the bed shift as he stood up, straightening out his shirt.

"A week before school starts, there's going to be a gathering for the students to meet up with each other. I expect you to come with Mathias and I." Lukas readjusted the hairpin Mom had given him before continuing. "You can try meeting some of the other students and I can warn you on who to avoid."

"And if I don't want to go?"

"You're going," he decided, crossing his arms. I exhaled a breath I had been holding in and nodded, already knowing I had no choice in the matter. This seemed to please Lukas, for he once again patted my head. He turned on his heel to leave the room, telling me he would bring me my dinner. He paused before exiting, though.

"What is it now?" I questioned, raising a brow at him. His head turned and our eyes met for a moment.

"You're going to call me Older Brother at school." My eyes narrowed.

"I'll say I don't know you," I countered, scowling slightly. Lukas didn't respond and he left, leaving me alone to whither in my despair and worry. I groaned and rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling and holding the pillow against my chest, thinking over the conversation. Maybe I _could _try making friends. Maybe opening up wouldn't be so hard.

I laughed bitterly and pressed the pillow against my face. Who was I kidding? And amidst these thoughts, one would blatantly stand out from the rest.

_Was it never what I wanted?_

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><p><strong>Why does this seem more like NorIce? Hah.<strong>

**I wonder how much this will be read. The couple it focuses on isn't too popular. And for that reason, for people who _do _read it, please review. I'm not usually picky about reviews, but it will settle my stomach.**_  
><em>


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh gosh. That's it. I refuse to update this until I have a new chapter of _'Cheap Bottles of Wine' _out.**

**This chapter is nothing special, but it gives a little insight on why Emil and Lukas are distant from one another. And the introduction of our favorite Polak, who will be in this a lot. **

**Here's the name guide. I expect you to know the official names.**

**_NAME GUIDE:_**

**Emil - Iceland**

**Lukas - Norway**

**Mathias - Denmark**

**_WORD COUNT: _3,329**

**Enjoy.**

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><p>Most people consider sunlight a welcoming thing, something that warms the heart and brings bright moods. For me, though, it was the exact opposite upon that dreadful morning.<p>

My eyes opened grudgingly, stinging at the sudden light entering them. I closed them tightly, grumbling and burying my face back into my pillow, relishing in its softness. I had almost fallen back asleep when the alarm clock on the bedside table rang out, causing me to jump. I sat up and slammed my fist down on it, turning the horrid thing off. Lukas must of set it, damn idiot.

I fell back to my bed, now entirely awake. I pulled the covers up to my chin and stared at the ceiling, thinking of ways to avoid this day. Sadly, nothing came to mind. Sighing, I threw the covers off of me and stood up, beginning on pulling my nightshirt off over my head. Tossing it on the bed, I carelessly threw on a brown, button up dress shirt. I heard last night on the news it was supposed to rain, so it never hurts to be careful. After putting on a pair of black trousers and socks, I made my way into the hallway and to the kitchen, pleased at the scent of coffee. With my mind still clouded up, it sounded like the perfect refreshment.

The kitchen was small, but perfect for a tiny family. But when you refer to Lukas, Mathias and I as a family, you would come to realize that we're far from it. Despite Lukas and Mathias being a couple, I've never actually seen them kiss. I've seen attempts from Mathias, but they were all in vain. And the results came with fresh bruises. And then there was Lukas and I. Back in my younger days, I happily called Lukas 'Older Brother' as any small sibling would. And even though I'm now sixteen, he still expects me to call him that. The fact that I've grown up hasn't seemed to set on his mind yet. And with Mom gone, him and I accidentally drifted apart from one another.

Lukas sat at the dining room table, sipping from his mug and reading some sort of magazine. He looked up when he heard me enter. I nodded to him and proceeded to make myself a cup of coffee. As I did this, I could feel Lukas's eyes on me, and I did my best to ignore it. But once I turned around, I met them full on, their icy stare bearing into me. He licked his lips before speaking.

"Brother, it's going to rain today," he told me, taking another drink from his mug. I walked closer to him, glancing out the windows at the sunshine.

"I heard last night," I said, sitting in the seat across from him. "It seems too nice out right now, though." Lukas shrugged.

"England is known for its rain, from what I've learned." I grunted in response, not bothering to say anything back. I looked at the brown liquid in my cup, silently wondering how Lukas and I went from talking about anything and everything to idly chatting about the weather. Over just one year of not seeing each other, it was as if we were complete strangers. And it pained my heart, even if I didn't want to admit it. A loud yelp broke me from my thoughts and I looked up to see Mathias in the door frame, rubbing his forehead.

"Ouch~. Lukas, you could of warned me about that!" he whined, pouting. He really was pitiful. I glanced at Lukas who shrugged in response to Mathias.

"I thought after living here for more than a year would of given you enough brain cells to know that the frame is too short for you to fit through," he stated, and I held back the need to snicker. Mathias merely ran a hand through his hair and waltzed over to Lukas, bending down over him. He clipped the hairpin into Lukas's hair, grinning as he did so.

"You forgot to put this on. It just isn't you without it, ya know," Mathias said. Lukas felt the clip, making sure it was in his hair correctly before looking up and brushing his lips against Mathias's, making the other man jump in surprise. He quickly kissed back though, only to have his cheeks pinched in what looked like a very painful manner. Lukas stood up and went to the counter, taking another mug down from the cabinet and asking Mathias if he wanted a cup. Mathias nodded gleefully and made his way over to Lukas, snaking an arm around his waist.

I didn't mean to watch, not in the least, for love and intimate touching always made me feel strange to be around. The fact it was my brother made it worse. And yet, I couldn't look away. Before I was caught staring, I stood up and went to the living room, taking Lukas's magazine with me. I took a seat on the couch, opening the magazine up. It was The Sunday Times, and I really didn't care about what was going on in the area, so I took to looking at the pictures. I didn't even bother paying attention to that much, either. My thoughts were more focused on the day ahead.

That day, I was being forced to go to my new school with Lukas and Mathias and maybe even mingle with some of the people there. I _really_ didn't want to, not at all. I guess I could get used to the hallways so I wouldn't get lost on the first day.

But I couldn't help but wonder. _Will _I make friends? Having a few people, or even just one, to spend my day with would be nice. And, if I was lucky, maybe I could get a girlfriend. I had never had one before, and it seemed like a nice thought.

"Ha, right. If I keep up that kind of wishful thinking, it will only come back and bite me," I muttered to myself. And why was I even thinking about love? I didn't need it and had no desire for it. Lukas and Mathias were rubbing off on me.

"Em!" Mathias called from the kitchen, using that silly nickname. " We're gonna leave in two hours!"

And my stomach dropped, a nervous feeling hitting me like a ton of bricks. This day was going to be horrible.

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><p>We arrived at the gates a little after two p.m., and I was honestly impressed with them. They were large and looked like they were taken good care of. My next thought is that rich students would usually use these gates, and I thought rich kids were generally stuck up and were all snobs. I realized that, upon entering the school, everyone certainly didn't meet my expectations.<p>

I looked around, taking in the sights of the other students. There was a tan girl that sported red ribbons in her dark hair who was talking excitedly to a smaller girl with short blond hair that had a single ribbon in it. They seemed to be about my age. A slightly older looking boy stood behind the smaller girl, scowling and tapping his foot, his arms crossed. His appearance was similar to hers, so I assumed they were siblings.

The next person I saw that caught my eye was a large, burly looking man with slicked back blond hair who was listening to a smaller man with brown hair jabber on. The brunette had a peculiar curl sticking out from the side of his head, and I couldn't help but compare it to Lukas's. My attention snapped away from the two when I heard someone call out Lukas's name and approach us. And, whoever this person was, his eyebrows certainly caught me off guard. They were _huge. _

"Lukas!" he said again, stopping in front of us with a smile. He had a British accent, which was no surprise to me. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" Lukas nodded in agreement before turning to me.

"This is my little brother, Emil," he introduced, placing a hand on my shoulder. The other man sent me a kind look.

"Ah, so this is the brother you were talking about. It's nice to meet you, lad," he said. "My name is Arthur Kirkland." He held out a hand and I shook it tentatively. As he turned back to Lukas to continue a conversation with him, I took to examining him more.

His hair was blond and messy, sticking up in different places on his head. It was as if he didn't even comb it out. Upon closer examination, I noticed his eyes were green. _Really _green. He wore a Union Jack shirt underneath a black jacket, and he had tied a red and black checkered bandana around his neck. Not what I had expected from a Brit, not in the least.

His and Lukas's talk was cut short as an arm was thrown around Arthur's shoulder, a slightly taller man grinning at him with perfectly straight white teeth. Arthur glowered at him, all traces of a good mood gone.

"Artie, we still have to go see Kiku!" the other chirped loudly. Arthur frowned, sighing, then said his goodbyes to Lukas and walked away. I turned to Lukas to ask questions, but he spoke before me.

"That was Arthur. He's nineteen. He graduated last year. Pure British man," he explained. "Him and I are good friends, I suppose."

"The other one was Alfred Jones," Mathias stated. "He came here from America two years ago or something, but I guess him and Arthur's families have known each other for a long time. He's, uh, seventeen or eighteen or something. Either way, he's about to go into Year 13. He's really cool." Mathias finished, shooting me a goofy grin. I wanted to ask about what he meant by Year 13, but I didn't. I knew school years had different names in different countries. I instead took to studying Alfred. He was fairly tall, had blond hair, darker than Arthur's, had blue eyes and wore glasses. And there was a strange piece of hair sticking up on his head.

As we continued walking, Lukas and Mathias paused and talked to multiple people, introducing me to them. Ones that stood out were the Japanese teenager who was in the same grade as Alfred, Kiku Honda, and the nineteen year old German albino, Gilbert Beilschmidt, who had been with two other men I wasn't introduced to. The next two seemed to be fairly close to Lukas and Mathias. One was a Swedish man, Berwald Oxenstierna, who was apparently in a lot of the same classes as Mathias. The other was a smaller, kind looking Finnish man, Tino Väinämöinen.

Berwald seemed intimidating to other people, but having Lukas as an older brother managed to make me immune to such personalities. He wore glasses and had a great height, a bit taller than Mathias. His hair was blond. Tino, on the other hand, was short and had a sweet face, almost as if it belonged to an innocent child. His hair was blond as well.

As the four conversed, I steadily snuck away from them, deciding to go explore the area myself. That, and get away from the multitudes of people. I had noticed a few giving Lukas and Mathias dirty looks, but I couldn't figure out why.

I walked down the hallways, examining the classrooms and clean floors as I did so. They were an admirable sight, I had to admit. And looking at the multiple posters and papers on the wall, it almost entranced me. People had already taken to putting up flyers for their clubs and teams. There were even a few that interested me, surprisingly.

And the next thing I knew, I was lost. Completely and utterly lost.

I searched around, trying to find my way back to Lukas. After a few more twists and turns, I gave up and sat down on a bench, deciding to wait and let someone find me.

"How embarrassing," I mumbled, massaging my temples. "Getting lost and school hasn't even started." A sigh escaped my lips as I took in my surroundings, noticing something different about them. I must of been in an older part of the school, for it looked a bit run down. And the wooden bench I was sitting on had many things carved into it, including hearts and skulls, the works. But one section caught my eye in particular.

_'Lukas is a faggot.'_

_'Mathias takes it up the ass.'_

_'They're poofters, both of them.'_

_'They should go die in a hole.'_

My stomach twisted, a sharp pain in it. I read through the comments, almost all of them about my brother and Mathias. What the hell was this? Why were people wishing death upon two innocent people? I read on and felt as if I was going to be sick.

"You found my hiding place."

It felt as if I jumped a foot in the air, my mind snatched away from the hurtful things I was reading. I whipped my head towards the sound to find no one. I cautiously looked around, then heard a chuckle sound from around the corner. A head of blond hair peeked out from it, a smile on the person's face.

The boy approached, his green eyes settled on me. His hair was shoulder length and parted down the middle, and the locks bounced with each step he took. Finally, he took a seat next to me, leaning his head against the wall.

"Totally not fair. I thought I had this place all to myself," he said, digging his hands into the pockets of his jacket. I eyed him, taken aback by the sudden familiarity he was sharing with me. The green orbs glanced at me, his grin remaining. "I, like, guess you and I think alike."

"I-"

"My name is Feliks. Feliks Łukasiewicz," he introduced, turning his eyes away from me. I closed my mouth, noting it had been hanging slightly agape. "Did you come here to hide from everyone else, too?" Finally, I spoke.

"No. I got lost," I admitted. I regretted it almost immediately, though, for Feliks began laughing as if he had been told some hilarious joke. I felt my cheeks tingle in embarrassment and I stood, ready to storm away when I felt a hand grab my arm.

"No, wait! I'm, like, totally sorry!" he giggled, standing up with me. "You're new here, huh?" I nodded and he gave me a sincere smile. "Coolio. Since you won't have any friends, I declare you my friend." Wait, _what?_ "Is that, like, okay with you?"

I gave him an incredulous look, silently questioning if he had actually just said that to me. He stared back until a sudden red tint rose to his face and he looked down, fidgeting now.

"I, uh, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I so don't know what that was. I really don't like strangers. But you seemed okay, I guess."

"It's, um, okay, I guess," I said slowly, watching as he visibly relaxed. Suddenly, his hand shot out and took mine, squeezing it.

"Thanks! I guess we're officially friends, then!" he chimed. I drew my lips into a thin line, unimpressed at the development.

"Before that, why me?"

"_Woah! _Your accent is really weird! Are you from, like, India or something?" I thought he was joking at first, so I blatantly ignored him, but when I noticed the puzzled look he was giving me, I began to get a headache. I knew my accent was different, but _India? Really? _And it wasn't as if his accent was normal, either._  
><em>

"I'm from Iceland," I answered, yanking my hand away from his. "And I repeat, why me?" Feliks tilted his head and pursed his lips.

"Okay. So, like, my best buddy, Tori. Okay, not Tori, but Toris, but I call him Tori. Well, he went back to his home country this year, Lithuania, to study there and left me all alone!" he rambled, making ridiculous hand gestures. "It's so totally not fair!"

"Do you not have _other _friends?" I questioned, feeling the intensity of my headache increase.

"Well, I have Lizzie, but her boyfriend has a stick up his ass. And Gilbert hangs around her a lot, and I don't like him." He paused, thinking of another person. "There's, like, uh, Raivis and Eduard, but Ivan is around them a lot, and he's a total creep. And then there's Feli, but he's always around that brute Ludwig!"

"First off, I don't know any of them. Except for Gilbert."

"Poor you."

"And who said I wanted to be your friend anyways?" I narrowed my eyes, waiting for his response. It came in the form of a simple smirk.

"You have that look." The answer was simple, but I couldn't comprehend it.

"What look?"

"A look I had a long time ago before I met Tori. That kinda look." Feliks blew a piece of hair out of his face and watched me, wanting to see how I would react. I thought on his words for a few moments. I had been thinking making friends wouldn't be so bad, and I had just not wanted to go through the effort of it. But now here was Feliks, offering his friendship to me. For selfish reasons, yes, but at least now I wouldn't have to be the loner in the cafeteria. So, at last, I took in a long breath and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Fine," I answered. "We can be friends." As soon as I said this, Feliks had thrown his arms around my neck, latching onto me with great force, laughing happily. I tried to push him off, but despite his thin build, he was a lot stronger than he looked. He pulled back after a minute, beaming at me. I looked away, but his fingers quickly grabbed hold of my chin, forcing me took look at him again.

"You're, like, really girly looking. I think I have the perfect clothes for you," he said, confusing me.

"Huh?"

"Never mind! You'll see later!" He hooked his arm through mine, leading me back down the hallways, speaking of things I wasn't even listening to. He paused, though. "What's your name?"

"Emil Bondevik," I answered. He puffed up his cheeks and thought deeply for a couple of seconds, mumbling to himself.

"Emil...Emil...Em...Emmy!" he exclaimed, jumping up with excitement. "Your new name is Emmy!" It took a minute for my brain to actually process this.

"Wait! I refuse to be called that!" I argued. He laughed, apparently finding my now red face funny.

"Too bad. I'm totally calling you that anyways."

Oh God, just _what _mess have I gotten into?

* * *

><p><strong>I'll be honest. I don't really like this chapter. It's a pain in the ass to describe appearances from another person's point of view. No kidding.<strong>

**I hope to introduce Hong Kong in the next chapter or the chapter after that. **

**Also, I don't like writing homophobic statements, but I feel as if it will be necessary throughout this.**

**Hope you liked this chapter. I'd love reviews~.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Haha! I updated _two _fics! I feel proud of myself!**

**I wish I had an interesting life to talk about. Too bad I don't.**

**Here's the name guide. I expect you to know the official names.**

**_NAME GUIDE:_**

**Emil - Iceland**

**Lukas - Norway**

**Mathias - Denmark**

**Lili - Liechtenstein**

**_WORD COUNT: _2,105**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

><p>Before departing from Feliks, he demanded that him and I exchange phone numbers. Reluctantly, I wrote the digits on his arm, trying my best to ignore the silly grin he wore. He then took to writing his number on my arm despite my protests against it. After we finished, he hugged me and I awkwardly returned the gesture, then watched as he pranced off to converse with a brown haired woman.<p>

I began surveying the area for Lukas or Mathias, finding my search to no avail. They were nowhere to be found in the large auditorium, it seemed. As I skimmed through the people, I silently examined their looks and postures. I noticed a tall, tan man arguing with a slightly shorter, brown haired man. The tan one wore a queer mask and looked too old to be a student. Kiku, the Japanese boy I had met earlier, stood close to them, seemingly trying to calm the two down. I felt bad for him, for the conversation appeared to be very heated.

I turned away, deciding to go wait for Lukas and Mathias outside. I exited the building, feeling a burst of cool air hit me as I did so. I stared out from under the awning, grimacing when I realized it was heavily raining. I stood there with a sigh, not bothering to notice another person was with me.

"Excuse me?" a miniscule voice spoke up. I turned my head towards the sound, recognizing the small blond girl I had seen from earlier. She wore a kind, shy smile as she stepped closer to me. My posture relaxed and I felt a strange ease overcome me from being near her. I stared into her large, green eyes. The pure look they held seemed to know no wrong. It took me a moment to realize she was speaking.

"Did you see a boy with blond hair in there? The style is similar to mine?" she asked, clasping her hands together in front of her. "We got separated in the crowd." I assumed she was talking of the scowling boy who had with her from before.

"Sorry," I started, "but I didn't see him." She sighed and fiddled with the ends of her hair, frowning slightly. Her eyes seemed troubled.

"I see. I hope he's not in another argument with Roderich." She must of noticed I had a confused look, for she giggled. "My brother, Vash, doesn't like Roderich for some reason. No one except for them knows why, but they refuse to speak about it."

"Oh. Sounds confusing." I turned away and leaned against the cold stone wall, watching the drizzle come down. The girl nodded, standing beside me. After a few minutes, I finally decided to strike up a conversation with her. "You and I are in the same situation right now."

"How is that?" she asked, turning her face to mine.

"I can't find my brother either," I told her, scowling as I said it.

"Who is your brother?" she questioned.

"Lukas Bondevik," I answered, and her eyes lit up.

"Lukas? So _you're _Lukas's little brother? The one he talks about about so much?" I felt a pain in my head at her words. Leave it to Lukas.

"He talks about me? Wonderful," I said sarcastically. She shook her head fervently.

"No! He says wonderful things about you!" she exclaimed, distraught by my comment. Her face softened afterwards, and she placed a hand on her chest. "He really seems to genuinely care for you."

"Too much," I muttered, though it felt as if my heart had skipped a beat when she said that.

"I don't believe that a person can care too much." She gave me another smile. "I think it's wonderful when family feels that way. It shows how close they are."

"I wouldn't say that Lukas and I are really close to each other," I said, feeling a twang in my heart. She frowned a bit.

"I see." She turned her head away and looked down at her feet. We shared a few minutes of silence before she spoke again. "By the way, my name is Lili Zwingli." I glanced at her, thinking it a suiting name for such a delicate looking girl.

"Emil," I said, watching as her face brightened considerably upon learning this.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Emil."

Lili and I stood there for while, watching the rain and conversing about little things that were of barely any importance. I found out that Lili and I were in the same grade even though she was one year younger. Her brother, Vash, was one grade ahead of us. I inquired as to what he was like and she fidgeted nervously, stating I would find out sooner or later. I didn't take that as a good thing I didn't ask about him again.

"Em! We found ya!" Mathias's chipper voice rang out, cutting through mine and Lili's pleasant chat. He bounded over to us, Lukas following closely behind. He threw an arm around Lukas's shoulders, grinning affectionately at him, then me. I sent Lili a nervous glance, but she was merely smiling at the pair.

"Hello Mathias, Lukas," she greeted, nodding her head at them.

"Hey, Lili," Mathias said back. Lukas greeted her as well. They must of known each other quite well. "Em, we were looking all over for you."

"Don't call me that," I growled, shoving my hands into the pockets of my trousers. "And I was looking for you two as well."

"We're ready to go," Lukas stated, shrugging Mathias's arm off of him.

"At last." I turned to Lili and told her a quick goodbye. She did the same. The three of us turned to depart, me feeling somewhat guilty for leaving her all alone. I felt her small fingers grab my arm and I turned back to her.

"I hope to see you soon, Emil," she said before letting go and scampering back into the crowded building.

As I watched her retreating form, I felt my heart swell slightly. I seemed to be warm on the inside. But I could easily tell I held no intimate feelings for her. No, she was just enjoyable to be around, a comforting presence. I hoped she would be a good friend. And maybe more.

No, wait, don't think like that. You just contradicted yourself, and that's just silly to do. All it is is teenage hormones acting up. Who cares about love? I certainly don't, not in the least bit. Love isn't something I want.

* * *

><p>I pressed my cheek against the car window, feeling a shiver go down my spine at the cold glass, watching the cars zooming by us. When we paused in our drive, Lukas turned around his seat, his stoic face not changing. I glanced at him but quickly turned my eyes away, attempting to not pay him any mind. After staring at me for a moment, he finally spoke.<p>

"Did you find a possible girlfriend?" he questioned. I felt my face heat up, more from anger rather than embarrassment.

"No, Lili is not my girlfriend," I said with a clear voice. Lukas opened his mouth, but I hurriedly interrupted him. "Nor do I have any romantic interests in her." He thought on my statement for a moment.

"Then you have a boyfriend," he decided, making it sound more like a fact than an opinion. This time, my face reddened from the embarrassment I felt.

"Shut up. I'm not a homo," I muttered, drawing my lips into a thin line. "I just don't want to be in a relationship, is all. They're silly, pointless, and I don't feel the need to have one."

"Wow, Em, way to be social," Mathias said with cheerful sarcasm. "You know, relationships are awesome!" I eyed him pointedly.

"Even if they're abusive?" I asked with a quirked brow, a smirk forming on my face. Mathias puffed up his cheeks in defiance.

"Lukas only hits me out of love," he stated, taking Lukas's hand in his own and smiling lovingly at his partner. His look quickly turned to one of pain as he pulled his hand back, Lukas seemingly giving it a bone crushing squeeze.

"Either way," I started, looking away again, "the whole relationship thing is far too overrated."

"You won't know until you try," Lukas whispered, facing forward as the vehicle lurched forward. I snorted in response and crossed my arms.

"It's not going to happen," I mumbled bitterly. After that, our ride was silent.

* * *

><p>When we arrived home, I retreated to my room to try and take a small nap. I found it difficult to sleep though, for I kept thinking of the events that happened that day. I opened a book, trying to distract myself with its words, but it didn't work at all.<p>

So, I met two possible friends in the course of two or three hours. One of them, though, is incredibly strange. I'm still not sure what he meant by him having the perfect clothes for me. I have a feeling I don't want to know, either.

Then there's Lili. I get the feeling that her and I will be close. At least, I hope we will. She actually seems like a decent and sane being compared a lot of the other people I saw. Maybe, thanks to her, moving here to England won't be as terrible as I initially thought.

Hmph. No, it will be, despite what I think. I don't want to be here. I want to be back in Iceland, in my old bed, in my old room. Maybe if I close my eyes and count to ten, I'll wake up and learn that this was all just a strange and terrible dream.

"Brother." I jumped, startled at the sound of Lukas's voice. I turned my face to his, scowling.

"Don't you know how to knock?" I grumbled. He shrugged and walked over, making himself comfortable on my bed. I watched him, a bit puzzled. "What do you want?"

"Sorry." My mouth opened a bit, shocked at his unexpected apology.

"F-for what?" I stammered out. He looked down, pretending to examine his socks.

"You don't need to be in a relationship," he stated. My face fell. He was apologizing for _that? _For something that was so blatantly obvious? How silly. "I just figured it would make your experience in England a more enjoyable one."

"Nothing will make me happy to be in England," I scoffed. Lukas looked at me, then down to his lap, his common frown deepening. It almost made me feel bad. Or, rather, it _did _make me feel bad. Lukas was trying to help me have a good time here. He seemed to be doing all he could.

He was being a good big brother.

He stood up, ready to leave me alone, when I grabbed his arm. He turned his face to mine, wearing a puzzled look that was questioning my sudden action. I pulled my hand away and placed it on the bed.

"I'll try to make the best out of all of this," I told him, then looked away, feeling my face heat up in embarrassment. "So don't worry yourself or anything." His hard face softened as he gave me a pat on the head.

"Thank you, Brother," he said, then turned on his heel and left, pulling my door shut behind him. A sigh escaped my lips and I stared out the window. The rain had picked up, wind blowing the trees violently and a clap of thunder sounding out. It was as if the weather was mimicking my heart.

I rested my head on the pillow, closing my eyes. I would do what Lukas wanted. I would be happy, even if I didn't actually feel that way. I would try to fulfill everyone's wants.

Even if it meant ignoring my own.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh Ice. You're such a brat. <strong>

**Alright. So I didn't get HK in this chapter. _Hopefully _he'll be in the next one.**

**I considered giving Liechtenstein the name of Erika in this, but I decided against it. But gosh, I love writing her. I can't wait to make my cosplay for the girl. She's so sweet.  
><strong>

**Reviews are awesome, guys. Hope you enjoyed~.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everybody. New chapter for you faithful watchers~.**

**So, The 31 Days of Halloween is awesome. Yep. 'My Bloody Valentine' confused me. **

**I need to make my costume for Halloween. Ugh.**

**Here's the name guide. I expect you to know the official names.**

**_NAME GUIDE:_**

**Emil - Iceland**

**Lukas - Norway**

**Mathias - Denmark**

**Iain - Scotland**

**Alan - Northern Ireland**

**Aaron - Republic of Ireland**

**Dylan - Wales**

**Li Xiao - Hong Kong  
><strong>

**_WORD COUNT: _4,364**

**Enjoy~.**

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><p>"It's not happening."<p>

There I was, burrowed underneath a protective barrier of bedsheets, speaking to terribly energetic Feliks on the phone at eight in the morning. I was thoroughly relieved Lukas hadn't been woken up by the telephone ringing. He was _not _a morning person. Mathias knew of this fact all too well.

"But why~?" Feliks whined, causing a sharp pain to appear in my head. This conversation was so unneeded and stupid, I could of sworn a brain cell or two died.

"Because," I started, "today is my last day of freedom and I refuse to spend it going shopping with you." A small growl rose in my throat as Feliks huffed, sounding as if he were being neglected.

"But Emmy-"

"_Emil."_

"-it would, like, be so much fun!" I said nothing in response to him. "Emmy, please? Toris was always my shopping buddy."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to be your new shopping pal." Feliks and I barely knew each, and yet he was already expecting us to do friendly activities together? Ridiculous, not happening.

"I'll keep calling you until you agree."

"Wait, what?"

"I will keep calling you until you agree."

"A-and what if I'm expecting an important phone call?"

"Well, it just looks like you'll have to miss it."

And then I hung up. I was not going to put up with this kid this early in the morning. I placed the phone on the bedside table and snuggled my face into the pillow, pulling the blanket closer. My eyes closed and just as I had almost fallen asleep, the phone rang once again. I scrambled to pick it up, hoping Lukas hadn't heard it.

"Would you stop it?" I hissed at Feliks. He snorted on the other end.

"Not until you agree to go shopping with me."

"I'm not shopping with y-"

"Ouch! Lukas, that hurt!" Mathias cried out from the hallway, telling me Lukas had been awoken.

"On second thought, I'll go," I quickly said, finding shopping more appealing than enduring the wrath of Lukas. Feliks cheered with glee.

"Great! This will be a totally fun time! We'll meet at the Carnaby Street shopping complex in a hour so we can have breakfast, alright? Bye bye!" The line went dead after he said that. I sighed and climbed out of bed, deciding to get dressed for the day I would most likely regret.

While combing my hair, I heard sounds of Mathias whining, but they were muffled by the closed bedroom door. No doubt Lukas was ignoring him. Hopefully he wouldn't pay me any mind either.

I quickly brushed my teeth and slipped on a pair of shoes, then quietly stepped into the hallway, praying Lukas wouldn't notice me. I passed the kitchen on the tips of my toes, catching a glimpse of Mathias sitting at the table with a dejected posture. I made it to the front door and had my hand on the knob when Lukas suddenly spoke from right behind me.

"Where are you going?" he asked, standing there in a robe. I didn't want to know why he wasn't wearing his regular pajamas. He also had dark circles underneath his eyes, and his hair was fairly messy. In his hand was a mug of strong smelling coffee.

"I'm going out," I hesitantly replied, turning back to the door slowly.

"Why?"

"I don't need to tell you." I could feel him give me a pointed look. "B-because a friend wants me to." I glanced back at him and noticed his face had brightened slightly. Annoying.

"A friend? Is it Lili?" he questioned, stepping closer.

"No, I'm going with a kid named Feliks." He sent me a long stare.

"Feliks? The one from Poland?" Ah, so that was his accent. I nodded once.

"Yes, him." I turned the knob and opened the door, stepping outside. Lukas placed a hand on my shoulder and told me to enjoy my time. I brushed his hand away, muttered a goodbye, then closed the door behind me and went down the stairs.

Sighing, I went in search of a trolley stop, then paused upon realizing I hadn't brought any money with me. Luckily enough, the mall wasn't too far away from the apartment complex. And besides, I always preferred walking.

The morning was cold and there was a light fog covering the area. It had obviously rained last night, signified by the wet grass and pavement. The tree branches drooped from being pelted by the downpour, and they looked rather depressing. The people were no different. Their postures were messy and tired, their expressions gloomy. They must have been heading to work. I almost felt sorry for them.

After walking for thirty minutes and getting lost a few times, I at last found myself in front of the shopping complex. I glanced around, noticing the parking lot was almost entirely empty, save for a few cars that most likely belonged to employees.

I pushed open the double doors and went in, inhaling the smell of the clean floors. Feliks was nowhere to be seen and I checked my watch, noting that I was a few minutes early. Sighing, I took a seat on a bench, closing my eyes as that all too familiar drowsy feeling overtook me. My stomach growled, making me remember I had never eaten breakfast. I hoped Feliks had enough money for breakfast for two.

* * *

><p>Bacon crunched in my mouth as I idly listened to the happily chatting Feliks sitting across from me. I think he was rambling on about that Toris kid. I could honestly care less.<p>

"But he likes Ivan's little sister," he sighed, taking a sip of his coffee. "It's so totally not cool."

"And why would you say that?" I asked in a monotone voice, not even looking at him.

"Because, and don't get me wrong, I like the girl and all that jazz, but she can be _really _creepy." He huffed. "She's pretty and stuff, but I so don't know what he sees in her. I mean, she stalks Ivan. I don't like the guy, and it's totally funny to watch him get really freaked out, but seriously." He finished speaking and took a bite out of his fried bread.

"She does sound strange, but don't you think you should let Toris like who he likes?" I questioned, raising a brow at him. It was odd how protective he seemed over Toris. His lips formed into a pout after my question.

"I would, but I want what's best for Tori!" he defended. A small blush came across his face a moment later and he looked at his lap shyly, fidgeting and twiddling his thumbs. "And I sorta kinda like him."

My jaw would've dropped, but I think I was in too much shock even for it to do that. Feliks was _gay? _My first, uh, _"friend"_ here was _gay? _Did I attract them or something? Were they drawn to me? That must have been the case. That had to be it.

"Emmy, are you okay?" I blinked and realized I had been staring at Feliks for a few minutes.

"You're gay?" I sputtered out.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," he said, then paused to think. "Well, actually, I think I'm only gay for him. I don't exactly feel attraction towards anyone else."

"Does that automatically mean you're gay?" He placed his chin in his palm and drummed his fingers against the table, pondering my question.

"I guess so," he shrugged, twirling a piece of hair around his finger. "Some of my friends have told me I look great in a skirt."

"A skirt...?"

"Yep."

Why did I attract all the strange ones? I mean, the last friend I had sported an accent my grandma compared to an Italian mobster. At least that guy was somewhat kind to me. Somewhat.

"Are you done eating, Emmy?" Feliks asked, gulping down the rest of his coffee.

"My name is Emil," I said with a scowl. "And yes, I'm done." He stood and took our leftovers, throwing them into the trash bin.

"Want more coffee? You still look really sleepy," he said, picking up my cup.

"I wonder why," I muttered, then nodded. He left for a minute, leaving me to my own thoughts, then came back and handed me the cup.

"Ready to start shopping?" he asked. I reluctantly agreed and stood up with him. "Alright, let's go."

Feliks dragged me along into a clothing store, his eyes brightening upon seeing the mass array of garments. He immediately bounded over to a rack, sifting through the clothes with glee. I watched him for a moment before joining, but I merely stood there, sipping my coffee. A woman noticed us and walked over. She worked there according to the tag she wore on her shirt.

"Feliks! I'm so happy to see you here!" she chirped. He looked at her and beamed.

"Hey Lizzy!" he greeted, and then they hugged. The woman seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on where I last saw her.

"You're always here so early," she said. Feliks nodded.

"Duh! I love it when you guys get new stock!" he responded. "And I love seeing you, too. It's so hard to catch you alone when Roderich is around."

"He's not as bad as you think, Feliks. He can be such a wonderful man." She gave an infatuated sigh as I attempted to remember if I knew the Roderich they spoke of.

"Lizzy, you were so much fun before you started dating him!" Feliks complained, placing his hands on his hips.

"Hey now! I'm still plenty of fun!" she protested. "I can still kick Gilbert's ass, right?" The duo broke into a fit of giggles. I could easily remember Gilbert. I found it fairly difficult to forget the German albino.

I idly listened to their conversation, my eyes wandering around the clean stores and its contents. It had me fairly distracted, and the next thing I knew, Feliks had thrown his arms around my shoulders, hugging my form affectionately.

"What are you doing?" I asked, startled and a bit put off by the action. Feliks gave me a wide grin.

"Lizzy, this is Emmy," he introduced, ignoring the fact I didn't like that name.

"My name is _Emil_," I said, turning to Lizzy. Now that she was actually looking at me, I could recognize her from the school get together.

"Elizaveta Héderváry," she told me, holding out her hand. I took it, realizing she had a very firm grip that I had never even felt from a man before. "You look familiar."

"I'm Lukas Bondevik's younger brother," I stated, watching her face break into a smile.

"So _you're _the beloved little brother," she giggled, pulling her hand away. There was that annoying statement again.

"I guess so," I mumbled, shoving my hand into my pocket and glancing away.

"Lizzy, are you glad the school year is starting up again?" Feliks interjected. She nodded.

"Starting college will be amazing!" she squealed, clapping her hands together.

"First year of college?" I asked. She nodded again and turned to Feliks when he sighed.

"I wish our grades were closer!" he whined. "It's so unfair. I mean, I'm eighteen! Totally not cool!" My head snapped towards him in surprise. He was eighteen?

"You're eighteen?" I questioned, repeating the question in my mind.

"Yep. So is Tori."

"Then how are we in the same grade?"

"There were some complications in our school lives, but they don't matter anymore. Don't sweat it, mkay?" He tucked a piece of hair behind his ear and smiled at me, but it didn't look very sincere. But, whatever it was, I had no part in it.

"How is Toris, anyways?" Elizaveta asked, cutting in on the awkward conversation. "Have you called him?"

"Yeah! He's enjoying his time in Lithuania. He really likes his grandpa's farm." His expression of happiness changed to one of sorrow in an instant. "He said he's sad he can't see Natalia this year, though."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure he misses you much more," Elizaveta reassured, squeezing Feliks' shoulders.

"I hope you're right."

I quickly became bored of their conversation as it continued, switching between multiple topics. It got to the point to where I absentmindedly wandered off, exploring the large building. Nothing really caught my eye except for a candy store. I was tempted to go in and see if they had licorice, but my empty pockets told me otherwise. I sighed and continued on, remembering when Mom and I would share bags of the wonderful treat. But the memories of her pained my heart and I quickly pushed the thoughts away.

I wandered into an old, dusty bookstore, noticing the worker behind the counter was dozing away. The sight was a turn off and I took to examining the shelves of novels. My fingers brushed against the spines until I pulled out _'Pride and Prejudice' _from the row. I skimmed through the pages, trying to get the moral of the story, not paying attention to my surroundings.

"Do you like that one as well?" a heavily British accented voice asked from beside me. I jumped, dropping the book at the same time. I quickly fumbled to pick it up, hearing the voice chuckle. Looking up, I realized it was the Arthur Kirkland man that Lukas was friends with.

"Arthur, right?" I inquired, standing up straight.

"Yes. I believe your name was Emil, correct?" I nodded. "Ah, good. I didn't mean to startle you, lad." He gave me a flustered smile as he apologized.

"It's fine," I said, then noticed his appearance was a bit different this time around. He wore a green sweater vest and black slacks, and his hair seemed to be a bit more combed out, but it was obvious it didn't help the bedhead look. Compared to the rebellious outfit from before, this was a tasteful change.

"So, do you like this?" he asked, placing a finger on the cover of the book I held. I looked down at it and shrugged.

"I've never read it," I admitted. "I've been meaning to for a while, but I just never got the chance."

"I would recommend you do." He turned his head towards the counter and sighed when he saw the cashier was still snoozing. "I came here to apply for a job, but it appears someone didn't get enough sleep last night."

"It's very rude," I agreed. "Why here?"

"Well, like any other college student, I have to pay my own way," he explained. "My parents offered to pay for me, but I declined."

"Isn't the offer more convenient to you, though?" His logic was confusing to me. I would have accepted.

"It wouldn't have mattered if I did." A sad look overtook his face. "It wouldn't have withstood for very long."

"Why is that?"

"No reason. At least, you wouldn't care." He glanced away, then gave me another smile. "I'll just come back later. Would you like to join me for tea?" I looked down into my empty coffee cup and nodded in agreement. Tea sounded very refreshing.

* * *

><p>I sat across from Arthur, the two of us conversing about books we enjoyed. He was a big fan of classic English literature, which really came as no surprise to me. The ring of a cellphone interrupted us.<p>

"Hello?" he answered, then paused as the other person spoke. "Yes, fine. I'll come over later." Another pause. "No, I won't bring hamburgers. Now goodbye." He pressed the 'End Call' button, glaring at the device. I gave him a puzzled look. "Ah, sorry, that was Alfred. You might remember him from about a week ago?"

"Oh, him. Yeah, I remember." The memory of the boisterous American was set deep in my mind. "You two are good friends, right?"

"Despite how much of an idiot the lad is, yes, we are indeed very close to each other." He took a sip of his tea then continued. "My parents were big travelers back in the old days. A little while after my mother divorced her first husband and my father divorced his first wife, they met."

"And fell in love?" I asked, smirking. He laughed and nodded.

"Mum brought a two year old boy from her last relationship, and Dad brought one year old twin boys from his. They married a month later, Mum got pregnant again, and there they had a fourth boy." He paused again, thinking on what to say next.

"You have four older brothers? I can barely handle one," I muttered. He chuckled at my statement.

"Believe me, I wish I could wring all their necks," he said. "Anyways, after that one was born, they began traveling a lot. And since they could only afford trips for themselves at the time, my brothers were sent to live with different relatives. One went to Scotland to be with his father, the twins to Ireland to live with their mother, the newer one to Wales to stay with our grandmother."

"So they were raised in those places?"

"Mmhm. When Mum and Dad went to America, they met Alfred's parents. While they were there, Mum discovered she was pregnant with me, so they hopped onto a plane back to England and I was born." He sipped his tea again, then coughed into his hand. "They gathered the family back together, then sent my brothers off again after three years. I remained in England with my aunt."

"That's not the kindest of things to do," I interjected, frowning at the tale of his past.

"I agree," he sighed, looking at his lap. "But they're kind people, really. I was three when they left for a one year trip around the world. They became close to a Chinese family during their time gone."

"They really got around."

"Indeed. When they came back, our family joined again. When I turned six, they discovered the American couple they were friends with had twin four year old sons."

"Twins? Alfred has a brother?" I hadn't remembered seeing anyone that really resembled him at the school function.

"Yes. His brother, Matthew. He's a good boy." He paused, thinking of where he had left off, when his lips upturned into a smile. "Anyways, I met Alfred that year. He was annoying at first-"

"He still seems to be annoying." Arthur chuckled.

"Despite that, him and I became close quickly." He took a drink of the now cold tea, his eyes becoming soft at the fond memory. "And then when I was eight, Mum gave birth to the youngest, Peter."

"Six boys. Must be a pain," I muttered, amazed at the youthful vigor his parents must posses.

"They actually enjoy it. I rather hate it. My brothers are compete menaces. Talking to Alfred over the phone or online was my only salvation." His fingers tapped against the table. "I was overjoyed when his family moved here two years ago, but I wouldn't let him know that."

"Embarrassing?"

"You could say that," he mumbled, turning his eyes away from mine.

"What about your brothers nowadays?" I inquired, actually interested in the subject he had presented.

"Iain, the oldest, is 25 now and lives in Scotland. Alan and Aaron are the twins and they're 24, attending separate colleges in Ireland. Dylan is now 22 and is going to college in Wales," he explained. "I think they found it hard to part from the places they were basically raised in."

"And what about you?"

"I live with Mum and Dad. And Peter, but the boy barely acknowledges me." He grimaced slightly, most likely annoyed at the thought. "Thankfully, I won't be entirely alone in the house soon."

"You won't?"

"Do you remember the Chinese family my parents were friends with?" I nodded. "The father of the family was recently killed in a car accident. The mother begged us to house the youngest child for her. She's trying to support her oldest son, Yao, at the moment. He's in college, as are his two younger siblings, but they're managing themselves. Without the father, their mother is going bankrupt having to care for Yao and Leon at the same time, herself included."

"Wait, Leon? That doesn't sound very Chinese to me," I stated, raising a brow. Arthur huffed.

"His name is actually Li Xiao, but Leon is a far more fitting name for the lad," he responded, crossing his arms. I felt the corners of my mouth turn upwards slightly.

"If you say so," I said, looking at my reflection in the cold tea.

"He's supposed to be here in a week or so. He's 16, as far as I remember," Arthur stated. "I met the family once. He had to be the most respectable from the lot."

"Hm. Maybe him and I will get along well."

"Perhaps you will," he agreed, then stood up. "Would you like to see if the worker is awake now? So you can purchase the book."

"I have no money," I admitted, standing as well. Arthur gave a kind smile.

"Then don't worry. I believe people should read it, so I'll buy it for you." I opened my mouth to protest, but Arthur turned and began walking away. I followed, walking next to him, but I paused when we passed the candy store. He stood beside me, wearing a confused expression.

"Sorry," I mumbled, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I'm just curious if they have licorice, is all. Mom and I always used to share it."

"I understand," Arthur said, then went inside the small, colorful shop. A few minutes later he came back out, holding two bags of licorice. I stared at him, bewildered, then took the bag he held out to me.

"Thank you," I whispered, walking beside him as we continued on our way to the bookstore.

"Not a problem," he replied.

After that, him and I spent a few hours in the book filled shop, eating licorice and still waiting for the tired employee to wake up.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you ditched me!" Feliks whined, walking beside me on the busy street. The sky was growing dim, telling me it was most likely close to seven.<p>

"I had no interest in your shopping," I bluntly stated, causing him to pout.

"You're so mean," he muttered, looking forward. I shrugged. I hadn't meant to abandon Feliks, it just sort of happened. Spending time with Arthur was just more enjoyable.

We walked in silence until we reached the apartment complex. Feliks turned to me, then wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I stiffened as he hugged me. It hadn't bothered me too much the first time we hugged, so why now? When he pulled away, he wore a grin.

"See you tomorrow, Emmy." With that, he turned and walked away, disappearing around a corner. I stood there for a moment before walking up the stairs and getting my keys out from my pocket, unlocking the door and stepping into the corridor. I could hear the TV blaring from the living room, so I headed there to turn the volume down.

Entering the room, I realized why the sound was so carelessly high. On the couch, Lukas and Mathias had their lips connected, passionately kissing one another. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks and I wanted to leave, but I found it hard to look away.

I finally managed to escape to my bedroom where I sat my new novel on the bedside table and changed into pajamas, then threw myself into bed. I burrowed underneath them, thankful that Feliks had bought dinner for us. My eyes closed and I rolled over, thinking about the day.

I believe Arthur and I had become good friends, and Elizaveta was a kind woman. Feliks revealed to me that he's gay, and I'm still unsure of what I think about that. And then there was the mention of Li Xiao, the student that would soon be here. I couldn't help but wonder what he was like.

Many thoughts ran through my head as I lay there, many of them involving the delicious licorice from earlier, but one thought was very prominent.

_'I don't want to go to school tomorrow.'_

* * *

><p><strong>So, I just jumped on the bandwagon and watched My Little Pony. I love it so much.<strong>

**Okay, so no Hong Kong in this chapter. I don't he'll be in the next one, either. But I'm getting there.  
><strong>

**ALSO, Darxetta and I now have a collab account. Link to it is on my profile.**

**I could use some soda right now. **

**Also, for Arthur's brothers, go to Zerochan and search up Ireland. You should find pictures of the first three brothers. Use your imagination for Wales.  
><strong>

**Reviews are awesome, everyone~. Hope you enjoyed~.**_  
><em>


	5. Chapter 5

**Plot? What's a plot? Haha.**

**Hey hey, I know this is really late, but I worked on it skin and bone. Really. School is just completely ugh.**

**That, and the Hetaween event distracted me. Yay for terrible excuses.**

**Here's the name guide. I'll just assume you know Emil, Lukas, Mathias, etc. A few of these names were just chosen randomly. Hah.**

_**Name Guide:**_

**Mr. Hassan - Egypt (This is his official last name, but I felt the need to clarify it.)**

**Angelique - Seychelles**

**Miss Lacroix - Monaco**

**Coach Beilschmidt - Germania**

**Mrs. Karpusi - Ancient Greece (Greece's mother.)**

**Marcus Vargas/Mister V - Rome**

**Ms. Hassan - Ancient Egypt (Egypt's mother.)**

**_Word Count:_ 4,479**

**Enjoy the new chapter~.**

* * *

><p>Dreams are amazing things. Within a dream, one can travel anywhere and do anything. In this one, I was back in Iceland and was a child once again. My hand held onto my mother's dress and she was smiling down at me like she always used to. Lukas stood beside us, his face soft and kind looking.<p>

No words were said in the dream and all was peaceful until a looming black shadow overcame the area we stood in. I wanted to cower behind Mom, but she was gone. I looked for Lukas, and he was standing several feet away, arguing with a tall, dark mass. I wanted to run towards him, but I couldn't seem to move. I didn't understand what was going on. I was scared.

_Beep beep!_

My eyes shot open. I was covered in a cold sweat and I found myself breathing very heavily. The alarm was buzzing, it's volume annoyingly loud. I exhaled a breath that seemed to of been held for a very long time and turned it off, then sat up, stretching. My feet touched the cold floor and sent a shiver up my spine. I could really use a shower.

As the water poured down on me, a knot began forming in the pit of my stomach. Today was the first day of school. God save me.

I barely knew anyone from the place. And with the few people I _did_ know, I couldn't guarantee I would be in the same classes as them. In other words, I would be surrounded by people I didn't know at all. Great.

I dried my hair and stepped back into my room, throwing my towel onto the floor. I turned to my bed, tempted to crawl back into it. The thoughts were tossed aside when my eyes met a blue blazer laying on the sheets. Next to it was a gold sweater and a white dress shirt. There was also a pair of blue plaid pants. I picked up the shirt and eyed it for a moment, then silently scolded Lukas for going into my room without permission. I then started to dress, happy to know that everything fit just fine.

I quickly slipped on a pair of loafers and left my room, then walked to the kitchen. Lukas and Mathias were already there and dressed, eating a few pieces of toast. A plate was set out for me and I sat down, beginning to eat silently. Mathias looked to me and his eyes seemed to brighten.

"Well, doesn't Em look handsome in his uniform?" he cooed. Lukas looked at me as well and nodded.

"Yes. He does," he agreed. Their comments caused my cheeks to heat up a bit. I huffed and refused to look at them. Mathias laughed loudly.

"Aw, did we embarrass you, Em?" he snickered. I glared at him, but he merely grinned back.

"Shut up," I muttered, then took another bite of my toast. After that, not much was said. We threw out leftovers away, brushed our teeth, did once overs of our appearances, then left the apartment.

Mathias did most of the talking on the way to school. Lukas nodded every once in a while just to please him. I was surprised he didn't attempt to shut him up.

After the grueling ride that involved stop lights and traffic, we made it to the building. When we got out of the car, Mathias held his hand out to Lukas, who glanced away. Mathias frowned, his eyes softening greatly. He placed a hand on Lukas' shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"It's okay, Lukas," he said, a comforting look on his face. "It's okay."

"You're right." Lukas placed his hand over Mathias', then took it in his own. Mathias immediately perked up and started to walk along. I stared at them for a moment, wondering what had been wrong, then started to follow.

As we continued on, I began to notice that other people were giving Lukas and Mathias stares. They ignored them, but the eyes made me feel uncomfortable. It wasn't as if I felt uncomfortable for the two. It was that I suddenly didn't want to be anywhere near them. I wanted to escape the looks.

"This is where you go in," Lukas said, suddenly stopping in his stride and causing me to bump into his back. He turned around to face me while I tried to regain my composure.

"What about you?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Mathias and I go through the college entrance," he answered. "Good luck, Brother."

"I don't know you." I quickly walked to the doors, leaving Mathias and Lukas behind. I didn't even bother to look back.

I pushed through the doors into the foyer, looking around for anybody I knew. I didn't notice anyone. Instead, I realized that everyone was gathered around a board on the wall. I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

My attempts to get to the board didn't entirely work as well as I had initially hoped. The people around me were all squeezed together and weren't kind enough to let anyone pass. I was about to give up when a hand grabbed my wrist and began tugging me along.

"Excuse me." It was Lili's voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry Lili! Go on ahead."

"Thank you very much."

Lili, that small girl, had managed to maker her way through much larger people by just saying a few words. Maybe I could try talking more often and perhaps be polite about it.

"Thanks," I mumbled once we got to the board.

"Anytime," she replied with a smile. I nodded meekly and then looked at the board. There were a lot of names with schedules listed beneath them.

"Are these our classes?" I asked. She nodded.

"We seem to have the same first class." Her faced gained a look of surprise. "You joined choir? Do you enjoy singing?" My face heated slightly.

Whenever I was younger, Mom and I used to sing practically all the time. We would sing when we cooked, when we went on walks and even when she would bathe me. As I got older, I sang every chance I was given. My old friends seemed to like my singing. That guy who sounded like an Italian mobster would even join in at times. He was always horribly off key though.

When Mom died, I stopped singing entirely. It reminded me of her too much. It wasn't until a few weeks before school started that I let my voice out again. I don't want to admit it, but I have Lukas to thank for that. He had come across a videotape I brought with me that was of Mom and I singing. He encouraged me to join choir when he had first watched it. I had ignored him, but when he said that Mom would want me to, I couldn't disagree.

"Yes. I like singing." I turned my face away, but I could feel Lili smiling at me.

"You and I will be in that class as well," she said. I shrugged and went back to looking at my schedule, memorizing it so I could write it down later. A bell chimed out and the others began to scatter. Lili motioned for me to follow her.

She took me through the hallways until we reached a classroom. Some people were already sitting in their seats, chatting and playing around with each other. A few of the boys stood in the corner, making a group of girls giggle. Some just seemed to prefer listening to music over socializing.

"Over here." Lili led me over to one of the desks, one that sat two people, and pulled out a chair. "We can sit here."

"Alright." I sat next to her and glanced around the room, examining the appearances of everyone. No one really stood out except for the bulky student with slicked back blonde hair that had his nose buried in the pages of a book.

"That's Ludwig Beilschmidt," Lili said, noticing that I had been looking at him. "He's not as intimidating as he looks. He's actually really kind. He came from Germany not too long back. Do you know Gilbert?"

"The one with the white hair?" She nodded.

"Yes. He's Ludwig's older brother." I stared at her, more than a bit surprised. She gave me a small laugh. "Yes, I know. It's a bit strange."

"More than a bit," I mumbled. "They seem so different."

"They are, but once you get to know them, you realize that they're actually very alike." She picked up her bag and began to look through it. "Gilbert is just a bit difficult to get used to."

"I can tell. I only met him once and he had already managed to give me a headache." Lili giggled and nodded.

"Vash constantly complains about him," she said as she pulled out a pencil. "Then again, he complains about a lot of people."

"I don't get how Lukas gets along with him," I mused, leaning back in my chair. The next thing I knew, the desk was surrounded by some boys from the class.

"You're new, right?" one of them asked. I nodded. "Then how do you know Lukas?"

"I don't remember it being your business." I narrowed my eyes at them.

"Everything and everyone he does is our business." I stared at them, then looked to Lili. She was silent. "Did he get you into bed too?"

"Excuse me?" I growled. They laughed and I felt my stomach flip. Just what the hell were they talking about?

"I guess you are new. Here's a word of advice for you." One leaned in close to me. "Bondevik fucks everything that breathes, speaks and has a penis."

"I'll let you know that Lukas is perfectly loyal to Mathias!" I exclaimed, attracting the attention of other students as I stood from my seat to match the other boy's height. Sadly, I was still shorter.

"You know Køhler too?" he snorted. "Are you like them or something?" My mind went blank and I felt my palms begin to sweat.

"I-I'm not gay," I stammered out. They grinned coyly and clapped my shoulder.

"Then why are you so intent on protecting them, huh?" they questioned. I didn't want to answer. I didn't want to tell them I was the younger sibling of someone they seemed to hate so much. Another problem was that I didn't understand why they hated him. What had Lukas done?

"Sit in your seats," a quiet yet firm voice commanded. We looked over to see a deeply tanned man standing there. He looked young and was fairly short, but his eyes made him look mature and stern. The others went to sit down. I followed suit, not looking at Lili.

The man made his way to the front of the room and started to write his name on the chalkboard. A chalkboard was strange to see, considering none of my classes had one since grade school.

"My name is Mr. Hassan. Some of you may already know me." He spoke to us without turning around. "I've been a student teacher for a few years now. This year, I work full time."

"My older brother said you're a menace," one of the girls said. Mr. Hassan was silent for a moment.

"I wouldn't say that," he responded. "I just don't tolerate idiots. Now, off that subject, I'll call role. Answer when you hear your name."

The first few names weren't special to the class. My name, on the other hand, seemed to be important.

"Emil Bondevik." As my last name was spoken, people began to whisper to one another. I frowned, then timidly raised my hand. It felt as if the entire class was staring at me when I did so. Mr. Hassan looked up from his paper at me.

"Do you know Lukas Bondevik?" he asked as he stared me down. I slowly nodded.

"He's my older brother," I admitted. He said nothing in response and went back to listing off the names.

The hour passed by uneventfully with Mr. Hassan talking about the classroom rules and answering questions. All we really learned about him himself was that he had lived in Egypt for a great majority of his life and that his mother also taught at the school. Lili told me she taught science in the same grade.

Plenty of whispering passed through the students and I got a gut feeling that most of it was about me. I lowered my head and sighed. I had wanted my first day to pass by without troubles.

"It's okay," Lili suddenly whispered, placing a hand on my arm. "This is normal."

"I'm finding your "normal" difficult to understand," I replied, deciding not to say anything more about it.

* * *

><p>As we left first period, Lili told me she had to go to a different class. I told her goodbye and started to look for my next class when the same groups of boys from earlier stopped me.<p>

"So you're Bondevik's brother?" Timothy, the supposed leader of their group, asked. I nodded.

"Yes, I am." They glanced at each other, seemingly speaking to each other without words. I waited for them to say something before we were interrupted by a peppy Feliks.

"Emmy, you and I need to go get some coffee!" he chimed. He dragged me far away from the others, then turned and faced me with a stern look. "What were you doing? Are you stupid or something?"

"I'm not," I answered, surprised by his different attitude. He sighed a shook his head.

"As your elder, I'm telling you to stay away from them. They're no good." He paused for a moment and looked me over. "They'd eat you alive. Stick to the people I approve of."

"I'll be around who I want to be around," I said. "And besides that, I have no intentions of being around _them_."

"Good. They're just a bunch of no good jackasses." He huffed, then perked up. "Anyways, what's your next class?" I dug out my copied schedule and handed it to him. He skimmed over the paper and smiled. "We have next period and seventh period together. Come with me."

We went past crowds of people and made it into the needed classroom. It was a small room with barely any people. A good deal of them looked older than me.

"Is there anyone you don't approve of in here?" I asked in a sarcastic tone. Feliks examined everyone before nodding.

"I don't like any of them," he said. "Well, almost. Angelique!" A girl with tanned skin and black hair looked up. She wore two red ribbons in her hair and she appeared to be a bit dazed, as if she had been napping. Once she saw Feliks though, her demeanor changed. He dragged me over before she jumped up and hugged him.

"Feliks!" she squealed as he hugged her back. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"It's only been one summer," he said with a laugh. She huffed, then giggled.

"Like I said, forever." He nodded in agreement before turning to me.

"Ange, this is Emmy." I gave him a glare. "_I mean_, Emil."

"Great to meet you Emil," she said, smiling at me. Her look quickly changed to one of astonishment. "Your hair is so cool!"

"Thank you?" She began to examine it and managed to make me feel uncomfortable.

"It's so white!" she chirped, her eyes wide.

"It's blonde," I replied.

"Did you dye it?"

"It's natural." By now, most of the class was staring at us due to Angelique's outburst.

"Wow..." She kept staring until I finally looked away in embarrassment. She turned back to Feliks when I did. "He looks familiar."

"There's a reason for that." Feliks lowered his voice to a whisper. "He's Lukas' little brother."

"Really? I didn't know he had siblings." She glanced at me.

"Now you know. But they really do look similar. They sound alike too."

"You're right!" She turned back to me. "Where are you from?"

"Iceland."

"Wow! People from Iceland are pretty rare here. We don't have many." I raised a brow. There were other Icelandic natives?

"Ange, that's not true. Emmy is like, the only one," Feliks stated. I felt my heart droop a bit in disappointment. Angelique smiled at him.

"Do you keep tabs on everybody in this school?" she questioned. Feliks smirked.

"Perhaps I do," he said. "After all, I know the best gossip. Even if it's not meant to be gossip." I watched them as they laughed.

"Isn't that invading their privacy?" I asked. Feliks looked at me, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Emmy, how many people were in your old school?"

"I think around 300?" Feliks laughed again and patted my shoulder.

"This is a big school, Emmy. Really big. You'll learn that soon. Very soon."

His words had made my stomach feel unsettled throughout the hour. From the encounter with those boys, I had a a bad feeling I was already well known. Feliks didn't help is pushing those thoughts away.

I was a bit mesmerized by our teacher. She was incredibly short, shorter than Angelique. Her hair was long, blonde and tied in a braid. In it, she had a large red bow. She wore glasses and her face was very pretty. She was kind at first, but when one of the idiots of the class began acting up, she immediately became a no nonsense woman. We later found out she was really sarcastic and teasing, but she was nice about it. Her, Angelique and Feliks got along well and they were very considerate on allowing me to join in their conversation. Our group was really the only one she spoke to while the others were on their cell phones.

No one in the class mentioned anything about my last name. It came as a major relief to me. In the end, class passed without a problem.

"Have a nice day, you three," Miss Lacroix said as we were leaving the room. "You especially, Emil."

"Thank you," I said, then followed Feliks and Angelique. I didn't give her words a second thought.

* * *

><p>Nothing entirely interesting happened during the rest of the day. People still said things about my last name, but I quickly learned to ignore the comments. I still had to ask Feliks why Lukas was such a big deal to the student body. If anyone knew, he did.<p>

My third class was P.E. and was separated into boy and girl sides. I couldn't help but notice that the girls were more active than our side. The guys mostly just watched them. I thought it was incredibly rude.

Our teacher was different. Really different. He was tall, masculine and had a mean face. His looks were similar to Ludwig's, the guy in my math class. They both had blonde hair and distinct features. The teacher just had strangely long hair. It even had one small braid in it.

At the beginning, he didn't say much. He quickly began lecturing us, though. He didn't really have a reason to, either. We managed to escape when a lightly tanned man with tousled dark brown hair entered the gym and began goofing off, managing to make Coach Beilschmidt(our teacher) angry. As the coach ranted, the other man winked to us and we all scattered.

My choir class had quite a few people in it. Lili and I stayed near each other and soon a boy named Eduard joined us. After him, Ludwig and a girl named Natalia joined as well. Natalia had only come over by request of Lili. I think she was the one Feliks had talked to me about. I didn't find anything wrong with her. She just didn't talk much. I'm pretty sure she was just shy.

Our teacher was Mrs. Karpusi. She was very good looking, gentle and smart. Her hair was brown, wavy and past her shoulders. She had a son who was one grade ahead of us. She had raised him in Greece for most of his life and had only become a teacher at the school three years back.

After lunch, Lili and I had class together with Angelique. Mister Vargas, our teacher, was the one from earlier who had angered Coach Beilschmidt.

"Alright, role has been called!" he chirped. I think he had an Italian accent or something of the sort. "Okay, we'll go around the room and tell everyone something about ourselves." I found the method of getting to know everyone funny. I hadn't done it since fifth grade. "I'll start. I'm Rome Vargas and my two sons are a grade ahead of you."

"Your name is Rome?" a girl asked. He gave her a goodhearted laugh.

"No. My name is Marcus, actually. I just prefer the name Rome," he explained. "It's my favorite thing to teach about in history. Okay, continuing with the others."

We didn't learn much about each other at all. Most everyone had lived in England their entire life, which wasn't too interesting. I also learned that a good deal liked eating. I think they just couldn't think of anything to say about themselves.

Angelique told us she was from a country I had never heard of before. She was from Seychelles, a country that was near Africa or something. I can't exactly remember since she was so excited about telling us everything about the place and she was speaking far too fast. Lili simply stated that she wished to live in Liechtenstein when she was older. Eventually, it was my turn.

"My name is Emil Bondevik," I started, sitting still in my seat. "I'm from Iceland."

"And I'm a fag," someone whispered and the entire class began laughing. My face must have turned an incredible shade of red, because the volume of laughter simply increased. Lili and Angelique did nothing but glare at the others.

"Enough." Everyone directed their attention to Mister Vargas. His face and tone were completely serious. "I will not have any form of discrimination in this class. If there is, it will result in detention with Coach Beilschmidt. Am I understood?"

"But don't you know his brother, Mister V?" one boy asked. Mister Vargas nodded.

"I do know him and I believe he is a fine boy," he stated. "Moving on."

I hadn't met my last two teachers yet, but I had a feeling that Mister Vargas would be my favorite for a long time to come.

* * *

><p>My science teacher was Mr. Hassan's mother. She looked just like her son and was just as quiet too. The two really did look like what I thought Egyptians would look like. Ms. Hassan was practically a modern day Cleopatra.<p>

My last period of the day was a bit hectic. It was home economics with Mr. Adnan. I had never thought I would find a male teacher for this kind of class. He was also the guy I had seen from a week ago who wore that peculiar mask. He still had it on.

Feliks and Natalia were in the class with me. Feliks had managed to break her shell and get her to talk. I was confused as to why he was being so kind to her, considering he had been saying she was creepy the day before. I asked him about it when she wasn't listening.

_"She's totally fine when Ivan isn't around!"_ That's what he said. I still didn't quite get it.

Mr. Adnan was weird. His outfit was lazily put together and he hadn't even bothered to shave his chin stubble. All in all, he looked like a really old teenager. His personality matched. He was loud, arrogant and too friendly with everyone. Not a lot of people actually minded, but I found it annoying. My nonchalant attitude must have sparked an interest in me for him or something.

When the final bell rang, everything in my stomach seemed to settle. I was ready to make a quick escape when Timothy and his friends appeared and began to follow me. I wished I had followed Feliks to the coffee shop instead.

"Emil!" I turned to them, not wanting to put up with their silly antics. "We wanted to introduce ourselves properly. I'm Timothy."

"Charmed," I muttered, walking away once more.

"Wait! We wanted to apologize!"

"Then do so."

"We're sorry you're a fag."

"I am no-" I paused. No, I wasn't going to argue about something so pointless. "I'm leaving now." I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you ready to go, Brother?" It _would_ be Lukas. I heard Timothy and his friends snicker.

"Yeah, I am." I walked away from them, trailing behind Lukas. "Where's Mathias?"

"His classes last longer than mine. He'll be taking a bus home," he stated. "I'll be coming back later this evening to use the computers if I can't start my computer up."

"So I'll be home alone?" I asked. his head.

"I won't leave until Mathias gets back."

We rode home in silence. I think were both just too tired to talk. I got the feeling that Lukas' day was worse, judging from the bags under his eyes and his sloppy posture.

When we got home, Lukas made a cup of coffee and retreated to his room. I watched TV for a while before I went to my room as well. I got rid of my blazer and looked at the gold sweater underneath. It was more appealing without anything covering it. I didn't much like the tie, though. It could be replaced later.

Whenever I had made myself comfortable on the bed, I noticed Mr. Puffin sticking out from my bag. I pulled him out and laid back down, staring at him and then the ceiling. Nothing was interesting.

Sighing, I hugged Puffin close to my chest. He always made me feel calm and got rid of worrisome thoughts. I was grateful for that. I didn't want to think of the school day. Sadly, the thoughts weren't pushed away for long.

It was obvious that a lot of people didn't like Lukas. Was it because he's gay? I was having a hard time figuring out why he would be hated for that. I always thought it was okay. Maybe it's just different in England.

Despite most of my annoying and stupid classmates, the first day wasn't so bad. There were some kind students and I liked _most_ of my teachers. I still wanted to be back in Iceland, but I felt as if I were adjusting nicely. I could feel plenty more strange, bad and good happenings were headed my way, though. Not putting too much thought into it, I fell asleep.

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><p><strong>I've already started working on the next chapter. Huzzah!<strong>

**Guys, if you want to keep up with updates with this or anything else I'm doing, be sure to follow me on Tumblr. My account is linked to on my profile!**

**I love reviews, everyone. Be sure to write them, alright? Also, I hope you didn't mind my name choices for the characters with unofficial names. I just liked them.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Here's your new chapter, with a fresh dose of Hong Kong. Hehe.**  
><strong>So, I won't lie, this honestly took me a great deal of time to write. I have my best friend to thank for encouraging me to keep going. I just love him.<strong>

**_Name Guide:_**

**Li Xiao - Hong Kong**

**_Word Count: _5,105**

**Hope you all enjoy this new chapter!**

* * *

><p>After enduring five days of school, a moody and restless Lukas and a whiny Mathias, it was finally the weekend. I could tell that the other two were far more thankful for this. They still had classes on the weekends, but the times were greatly reduced. This left plenty of opportunities to cuddle on the couch for them. Lukas still managed to find ways to make his aggravating presence clear to me, though.<p>

The harsh teasing had died down, excluding Timothy's group. A lot of the students had merely taken to ignoring me and passing a few rumors here and there, but it wasn't anything significant. I was used to being ignored, so I was completely fine with such treatment.

I had managed to become friends with Natalia and Eduard. Ludwig seemed to have a protective shell surrounding him and it was hard to break. Not that I really had an interest in breaking it. Too many friends would be a nuisance. On the other hand, I became acquainted with a few older students and a younger one. Whenever that one spoke, he stuttered a great deal, so it was difficult speaking with him. One of the older students was Vash, Lili's brother. He seemed fine with me and we held idle chat, but he disregarded any talk of Lukas or Mathias with the wave of a hand.

Another student I got to know was Ivan, who was a grade above me. He was a large guy with an equally large nose. Well, no, that's exaggerating, but it was pretty big. His voice was almost sickly sweet and held a Russian accent. It turned out that Natalia was actually very clingy to him.

I saw Alfred again with the brother Arthur had told me about. He was a lot more quiet than Alfred. Arthur hadn't been lying when he said that Matthew was much more respectable. Him and Alfred really did look alike, but they had some differences here and there too. Matthew had a piece of hair similar to Alfred's that stuck out.

I had gotten to know a good deal of my teachers. Miss Lacroix talked a lot to me, which was nice. I had been wanting to approach Mister Vargas just to have a conversation with him, but I never came up with a good reason to and I simply feared I would make a fool out of myself. Mr. Adnan was still weird and overly loud. I had one older student in my class, Heracles Karpusi, who constantly complained and threatened that he would get a schedule change. Mr. Adnan and him argued a lot, and I wondered why he didn't follow through with his threats to change classes. He claimed that he needed the class to graduate and that he would leave if he could. Feliks always laughed at their disputes and said it was great that they argued a lot. It ultimately meant less work for us, but I didn't see where that helped us at all when it came to grades.

Mr. Adnan liked to jump into projects. On Tuesday we made cookies and he ate the majority of them. Feliks stashed a lot of them away for us to eat later. On Thursday, Mr. Adnan said we should make a Turkish dish, but no one knew where to start with it. We abandoned the project when he realized how hopeless we were with it. He promised to prepare us an amazing Turkish meal someday.

On Saturday, Arthur called the apartment for me. He wished to invite me over while his parents were at the airport. Lukas and Mathias were more than happy to see me go. Well, Lukas did a better job at disguising his pleasure, but Mathias was very eager. I didn't want to know their plans for that day.

It didn't take too long to get to Arthur's house. It was pretty large and expensive looking, but I wasn't surprised. From his story at the mall, I figured that his family had plenty of money and lived quite well.

"It's been a while," Arthur said as we settled in the family room. In his home, the family room and living room were two separate things and were expected to be referred to as such. I couldn't bring myself to see the difference.

"It has," I agreed, admiring the decor of the room. Arthur stood and told me he would make tea for us. The kitchen was attached to the family room, so we could continue our conversation. Instead, I took to looking around more.

The family room had a large flat screen TV in it and there were many gaming consoles attached to it. Arthur didn't seem like the gaming type, so I assumed they were for someone else.

Behind the couch I sat on were multiple windows. The blinds were drawn and I decided to look out, curiosity getting the better of me. I expected a large backyard, but I was met with something far more extravagant. The windows looked out onto a huge deck that had multiple steps leading down to a concrete surrounded pool. I could see an in ground, circular hot tub attached to it. There was even a diving board.

Next to the pool was a long, thin garden that was placed along a thick wall that must have acted as a fence. A building, most likely a pool house, stood close by. There was an iron gate that led to a grassy area where I could see a trampoline. The sight of it all left me speechless.

"Do you like it?" Arthur asked as he placed a teacup down on the coffee table. I nodded, still a bit stunned. "It's nice, but a bit too big for me. I'd rather live in a more homey place."

"What you have definitely beats an apartment," I said. He laughed a shrugged.

"I suppose it does. Regardless of what you say, though, you and Lukas and Mathias are living in a fairly expensive place."

"What? We are?"

"Yes, you are. I've seen your apartment before and it's a lot nicer compared to other apartments I've come across."

"I didn't realize," I said. Lukas had never told me we had an expensive apartment. It almost made me feel bad, knowing I could have gotten a job and helped paid the rent.

"Well, now you know." Arthur smiled and picked up the remote, turning the TV on. Surround sound. No shocker there. "Alfred positively loves this place."

"I can understand why," I mused, then took a sip of the drink.

"We usually hang out at his home, though. He gets too distracted when he visits me." Arthur flipped through the channels, drinking his own tea. "It was endearing at first, but quickly became annoying."

Arthur and I held conversation for a while before we both ran out of things to talk about and took to commenting on the show we were watching. Neither one of us actually knew what was going on in it. At last, I remembered a question I had been meaning to ask.

"Why did your parents go to the airport?" Arthur looked at me and smiled.

"To pick up Leon," he stated.

"The one from China?" He nodded. "Why didn't you go with them?"

"Someone had to watch the home." He fiddled around with the remote for a moment. "I worry about Leon. He's very fluent in English, but he doesn't seem like much of a talker."

"I understand. Moving to somewhere so new and different is a big change," I said. I didn't know "Leon" yet, but I felt as if I could already relate.

"Emil, may I request something of you?" Arthur asked. I hesitantly nodded and he grabbed my hand. "I'm really worried about him. Him and I won't be able to see each other much, and I need someone trustworthy to be around the lad. Please become friends with him."

His request caught me off guard. I wasn't sure I could fulfill it. Seeing as how I wasn't much of a talker myself, I couldn't see how Leon and I could be very good friends. However, I couldn't bring myself to say no to Arthur's pleading eyes.

"Alright," I sighed. "I can't promise anything, but I'll at least try."

"Thank you so much," Arthur breathed, then released my hand when he heard the garage door opening. He stood, straightened his shirt, attempted to fix his hair, then rushed out of the room to greet his guest.

"Leon!" I heard Arthur chirp. "It's been so long!"

"My name is Li Xiao," another voice countered.

"Arthur, let him be," a woman said. "He's tuckered out from his flight."

"Yes Mum," Arthur spoke. "Come on, Leon-"

"Li Xiao."

"Um, yes. I'll show you to your room." After that, I heard footsteps nearing the family room. I didn't bother to look up, but I could definitely feel someone watching me. The footsteps went up the carpeted stair case that was connected to the room.

Arthur's parents didn't appear, but a small boy did. His hair was blonde and a bit more neat than Arthur's. He had the same thick eyebrows, but they were slightly smaller. When he saw me, he stopped in his stride and stared.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Emil."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm one of Arthur's friends."

"You're friends with that jerk?" He seemed surprised, for some reason. I nodded in response to his question. "I didn't know he could make friends."

"Why would you think that?" I asked. He shrugged, then picked up one of the game controllers and turned a console on and sat next to me.

"He's a jerk, that's why," he said. "I'm Peter."

"It's, uh, nice to meet you."

I watched him play video games for a while before Arthur came back down the stairs. When he saw Peter, he cast a glare at the boy. Peter didn't look at him.

"Are you bothering my guest, Peter?" he questioned.

"He's not," I interjected. Arthur sighed and motioned for me to follow him. We went upstairs, which was really only a long hallway with multiple doors.

"We'll just go to my room." I followed him past the other doors. I heard music coming from inside one of the rooms. The tune sounded familiar. "That's Leon's room."

"Is it?" I mumbled, trying to remember the music. The language sounded like it was Norwegian.

"Yeah. He's tired right now, so come on." I nodded and followed Arthur when I head the door open behind me. I turned, but it quickly shut. Arthur chuckled. "He's shy."

"Yeah..." I stared at the door for a moment before turning away.

Arthur's room came as a surprise to me. It was actually very cluttered. Papers were scattered about on the floor, most of them being drawings and discarded song lyrics. There were a few school papers here and there too. An electric guitar leaned against one wall. Arthur called his room an organized chaos. I just called it messy.

The only thing that seemed to be straightened out was the top of his dresser, which held snow globes, a case of rings, a small wide screen TV, miniature statues of fairies and dragons and unicorns, books, photographs and a stuffed unicorn toy. I eyed it curiously, wondering why Arthur would possess such a thing.

"It was a gift from Alfred," he said. "I love fairy tales, so he thought it would be a good gift. It's still embarrassing."

"I would think so," I mumbled. I looked at the photographs next. Most of them were of Arthur and Alfred together, but a good portion of them were just of Alfred. "You two really are close."

"We are. He was saying something about coming over here later." He looked at the ceiling and smiled. "Him and I haven't talked for a week. He said that's too long for him."

"Sounds clingy to me," I said, then looked at the last photograph in the stack. It definitely caught me by surprise.

It was Alfred and Arthur together, but they were acting differently in this one. Instead of their normal friendly demeanor that showed in the the pictures, Alfred had his arm wrapped around Arthur's waist and was nuzzling his face into Arthur's hair. Arthur appeared to be laughing and he had a hand on Alfred's chest, as if he were pretending to try and push him away. His face was an incredible shade of red.

"Which picture is that?" Arthur asked and I felt him approach, then look over my shoulder. I glanced at him and watched his face morph into one of shock and embarrassment. He quickly snatched the photo from my hand and stepped back. "It's not what you think! Him and I are just close enough to where we can do that without feeling awkward! That's all!"

"Are you and Alfred dating?" I couldn't understand why he was so intent on hiding it. The picture made everything obvious. And yet, Arthur looked away and began stammering, his face becoming redder and redder with each sentence.

"We're not," he said. It was clearly a lie.

"You know," I started, walking closer to him," I don't care of anything. I'm used to it. I mean, my brother is dating a guy. It's almost become normal in my mind."

"It's different with us," he replied grimly, looking at me with sad eyes. My comfort hadn't worked well, apparently. "We like each other, but he can't seem to come to terms with being gay. One day he's loving, the other he's just friendly."

"This picture suggests otherwise," I said. He smiled slightly.

"This was taken in another city. Matthew was the one who took it for us." He fingered the picture gently. "Him and their cousin, Francis, were the only ones who know. Now there's three people."

"You should just hide the picture better," I said. Arthur ignored the comment and continued on.

"We worry about how our parents would react," he sighed. I couldn't help but wonder if any gay person worried about that. I guess Lukas did when he told Mom, but it was only for a split second. "And it's obvious the student body doesn't respond well to gays."

"Figured as much," I muttered, feeling a scowl slowly start to form.

"When Alfred and I began dating, he told he wanted to keep it a secret until he was ready. Al is in a lot of club activities, and I understand that he has a reputation to keep. In order to keep it, I told him to get a girlfriend."

"Did he?" In my mind, I thought Alfred getting a girlfriend seemed unfair to all three involved in the mess.

"He hasn't. He's looking for someone who would understand and go along with what we're doing."

"Why not Angelique?" I suggested, but Arthur groaned and shook his head.

"That girl can't keep her mouth shut for the life of her," he complained. "He said he was going to ask Emma, but he sure is taking his time."

"Maybe he just doesn't want to hurt you."

"He knows I won't mind." Arthur opened a dresser drawer and stuck the picture under some clothes.

"When will you tell your parents?" I questioned. He shrugged.

"I don't know," he mumbled. "I suppose I'm just trying to wait for them to find out."

"That won't solve anything." I went to his bed and sprawled across it, then stretched and moved around, trying to make myself comfortable. "This is why I don't bother with romantic stuff. It seems like a huge hassle."

"It can be," Arthur agreed as he lay down next to me. "But when everything starts working out for the better, it can be wonderful."

"If you say so," I mumbled. His bed was awfully comfy and distracting. We were quiet after that until we heard bounding footsteps coming up the stairs and head toward Arthur's room. "That's him, huh?"

"Yes." We looked towards the door when it burst open and Alfred came running through it. He didn't seem to notice me as he hopped onto the bed and landed on Arthur. From the sound Arthur made, it was almost as if he had been crushed.

"Arthur!" Alfred exclaimed as Arthur struggled to regain his breath.

"For fuck's sake, Alfred! Be more careful!" Arthur scolded. "You could have broken my ribcage!"

"Sorry babe. Didn't mean to." Alfred grinned at Arthur. I smirked at them, amused at the fact that Alfred still hadn't seemed to take notice of me.

"I would hope so," Arthur grumbled. He then proceeded to wrap his arms around Alfred's neck. "Now, where's my greeting kiss?"

"Oh, you wanted one?" Alfred asked in a teasing tone before him and Arthur leaned in and pressed their lips together. They held it for a while before pulling away with silly grins.

"Am I interrupting?" I spoke up, which caused Alfred to jump and quickly scramble away from Arthur. He let out a _manly_ squeak as he did so.

"Holy shit! How long have you been there?" he questioned, flustered. Arthur sat up and chuckled.

"It's okay, Alfred. He figured it out." Alfred visibly relaxed when he heard that.

"Who are you, anyways? You look sorta familiar," he said. "Your voice is weird."

"It's an accent," I explained. "I'm Emil Bondevik. I came here from Iceland."

"You're Lukas' little brother, right? I think Arthur told me about you."

"Yeah, I'm his brother," I replied. He grinned at me, then looked at Arthur.

"Why didn't you tell me you had company?" Arthur reddened slightly and cleared his throat.

"Because I wanted to see you," he stated. Alfred blushed slightly and began to fidget.

"Well, I wanted to see you, too. But I don't want Emil to feel uncomfortable if we do, uh, romantic stuff." Alfred gave me a sorry look. I shook my head.

"I don't care. I'm used to it with Lukas and Mathias." Alfred's eyes brightened.

"Sweet!" he chimed. "Thanks dude."

As the day continued, the three of us ended up not doing much. Arthur played his guitar and sang one of the newer songs he had written to us, but only because Alfred whined and complained until he did so. He was very good at it, but he called it a simple hobby. After that, Alfred and I watched as Arthur cleaned and organized his room. We were only allowed to sit on the bed and not touch the floor. Alfred told me that Arthur would fix up his room only once a month and that he was ruthless when he did so.

When Arthur finished, he went into his closet and told Alfred to follow. They brought out a reasonably sized couch shortly after. I was a bit shocked that Arthur had enough room in there for it. I couldn't help but wonder what else was held in the closed off space.

We watched a movie for about two hours before Alfred begged to watch Spiderman. Arthur eventually agreed to it. When the kiss scene came around, Alfred rambled on about wanting to someday try kissing like that. Arthur chuckled and nodded. I assumed it was one of Alfred's 'loving' days.

In the last few hours I was there, we spent our time playing video games. Alfred and Arthur turned out to be very competitive against each other. I gave up on playing and stuck to watching them, finding their banter more amusing than the game itself. It soon turned into a wrestling match that left them laughing like children. The sight was honestly very endearing.

"Will Lukas want you home soon?" Arthur asked when he had gotten us some of the pizza his parents had ordered.

"Not sure. He's usually keen on keeping me home, but him and Mathias were eager to see me go," I said. Alfred burst out laughing when I spoke.

"Stop being such a child, Alfred," Arthur scolded. Alfred smiled, then noticed the extra plate of pizza next to him. He made a move to pick it up, but Arthur hurriedly slapped his hand away. "Don't. That's for Leon."

"Then why is in _here_, next to _my _body, and not in _his _room next to _his _body?" Alfred whined, giving Arthur a pout.

"He wouldn't open his door for me," Arthur stated. Alfred stood and took the plate.

"Then maybe he will for me," he said. He left the room only to come back a minute later, plate still in hand. "No luck. Can I eat it _now_?"

"No, Alfred." Arthur turned to me. "Will you try?"

"I doubt he'll take it from me, either," I said. Arthur waved it off and handed the plate to me. I looked at it, then him. "I just said-"

"Nonsense. I believe he'll listen to you. Go try." Arthur shooed me from the room and closed the door once I was in the hallway. I frowned, then went to Leon's door and knocked.

At first, the only thing I could hear was the music. The language was definitely familiar, that was certain. I knew it was Norwegian. Had to be. The song itself also sounded nostalgic. I knew the tune and rhythm perfectly. Before I could figure it out, the music was turned off. I sighed and knocked again. All was silent until I heard Leon approach the door. It was opened slowly.

"What do you want, Arthur?" he said quietly.

"It's not Arthur," I stated. The door opened wider. He must have seen me there, because he opened the door all the way after a moment.

"What do you want?" he asked. I looked down at the pizza, then to him.

"We've been trying to bring you your dinner," I said. He quickly took the plate from me.

"Great. I'm starving." He began to nibble on one of the pieces, staring at me.

"If you were so hungry, why didn't you answer the door?"

"I didn't hear. Showering." It was then that I took in his appearance.

He had choppy, dark brown hair that came down to his jaw. His bangs covered his eyes a little from being wet, but I could make out a bit of a brown color. From the little bit of forehead I could see, I could tell he had somewhat thick eyebrows. I also almost matched his height. He was just slightly taller. He wore sweat pants and a baggy white t-shirt. His appearance was, well, normal and nothing actually seemed special. From pictures I had come across, I had this general thought that Asian people liked to dress up. Then again, that was pretty stereotypical to say. It took me a moment to realize that he was looking me over as well, which made me feel highly uncomfortable.

"I'll go now." I turned to escape to Arthur's room, but Leon grabbed my shoulder before I could. "What?"

"Who are you again? You don't look related to Arthur."

"I'm not. I'm Emil, one of Arthur's friends." I pulled my shoulder away from his grip and looked back at him. "Sorry for bothering you, Leon." He suddenly let out a small laugh, his stoic face changing to one of amusement.

"That's not my name," he said. I fidgeted slightly. I couldn't remember his actual name anymore. "My name is Li Xiao."

"Right. Whatever. I don't exactly care," I muttered. He placed a hand over his heart in mock pain.

"Ouch. That hurt," he said. He snickered, then changed back to his initial self. "Emil, right?"

"Yes."

"It was nice to know you." He began to close the door before pausing and staring at me again. "Work on your accent. It's weird." He then winked and gave me a peace sign, closing the door. I stared at it for a moment before making my way back to Arthur's room, silently deciding that I could _not _be friends with that guy.

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><p>"Are you sure you don't want to stay the night?" Arthur asked as I was pulling on my shoes. I shook my head no.<p>

"Lukas would prefer it if I came home tonight," I said.

"It's rather dark out," he mumbled, peeking out his window. Alfred stood and pulled on a jacket, then slapped me roughly on the back.

"I'll drive him home and come back," he said. "Meet me at my truck, okay?" He left the room.

"Thanks for inviting me over," I said to Arthur. He smiled at me.

"Anytime." His face then softened. "Thank you for understanding."

"Of course." I nodded then left the room. I passed Li Xiao's room and paused when I heard the door open slightly. I didn't turn around.

"Weird accent~." I heard a snicker and the door close. My face heated and I hurried down the stairs after Alfred and silently cursed Li Xiao.

I jumped into Alfred's truck and quickly buckled in, wanting to get away from the house as soon as possible. I think Alfred noticed I looked angry, but he didn't say anything. In fact, he didn't speak until a few minutes into the ride.

"I don't know what to do," he said. I looked over and realized he seemed rather serious.

"About what?" I asked. He sighed and shook his head.

"Forget it." He stopped at a sign. "I don't wanna bother you with my problems."

"I don't don't like _dealing _with problems, but I don't mind _listening_." He looked at me, then started driving again before he found a spot to pull over at.

"I don't know what to do about Arthur and I," he said. "It's getting really tough."

"You two seem happy to me."

"We are," he mumbled in a childish voice. "But my friends are starting to suspect stuff."

"Then do what Arthur suggested and get a girlfriend."

"No way! I couldn't do that!" he exclaimed. "The thing is, I don't want to hurt Arthur. I've finally become okay with being gay."

"Then where's the trouble?" Alfred was becoming confusing.

"I want to come out to the school. I know people wouldn't come after _me_, but I'm afraid for Arthur's sake." He paused and massaged his temples. "I don't want Arthur to get hurt."

"I'm sure he'd be fine."

"I know that, but I'm still worried!" He drew in a shaky breath. "It's because I love him. When you love someone, you want to protect them, you know? Arthur hasn't realized I love him, though. He probably thinks I'm just testing him out because I want to know what it's like to be with another guy, but that's not the case! I want him to realize I love him and I don't know how to say it! And-"

"Woah," I interjected. "Calm down. Why don't you just say 'I love you'?"

"Easier said than done," he remarked with a bitter laugh. "Besides, what if Arthur is just dating me out of pity because he thinks I'm confused? Holy shit! What if he's not even gay? What if my feelings are one-sided? This isn't good!"

By this time, I was smiling at Alfred's distraught ranting. He was blowing things way out of proportion, and as it turned out, Arthur had done the exact same. He had just been a lot more calm about it. Each had false accusations and neither one realized just how strongly the other felt. The length that love went to was a stressful thing. It was a wonder how anyone could put up with it.

"Emil, why are you smiling?" Alfred cried. "This is serious shit, okay?"

"You two need to talk," I said. "_Really _need to talk."

"We can't! It's embarrassing!" He groaned and started the truck back up and drove on. "I'm not gonna bother."

"That will get you nowhere," I responded, then remained silent for the remainder of the ride. Alfred did the same.

When he dropped me off, we said our goodbyes and he went away. I had a feeling that they wouldn't try to talk about their problems. It amused me to no end, but I honestly hoped they would be okay.

The door was locked when I went up the stairs to it. I heard Mathias talking inside, but the person replying didn't sound like Lukas. The voice was much deeper. I searched for the spare key, but it wasn't in its usual place. After knocking for a minute, Lukas answered the door. He looked annoyed and his hair was disheveled. He also had some jittery movements. I guessed he hadn't had enough coffee.

"It's late," he said.

"Sorry for actually enjoying my time," I countered, scoffing and walking past him. He closed the door and locked it, then followed me into the living room. Mathias was arguing with Berwald, the Swede I had been introduced to a while back.

"I'm telling ya that I drank more!" Mathias yelled. I noticed that his cheeks were flushed.

"Didn't," Berwald said, crossing his arms. Tino sat awkwardly on the couch, quietly sipping a glass of water. I turned to Lukas.

"Have you been drinking too?" I questioned. He held up one finger.

"Only one. Those two went overboard." He nodded at Mathias and Berwald. I looked at Tino, who smiled and gave a slight wave. I waved back, still a bit disturbed by the other two.

"I'll be in my room," I stated, then hurried off.

As I was changing into my night clothes, I began to think about how love really did seem silly, especially when I thought of Alfred and Arthur's relationship. It almost seemed like the cliché movies and TV shows. No wonder I was turned off by the thought of it. Then there was also Mom and Dad's broken relationship. I still didn't even know what their feud had been over. I had considered asking Lukas, but figured that he had probably been too young at the time as well to remember anything.

Life in England was starting to brighten. I was relieved that I had actually found people I could relate to and seemed to like me. Everything was working out. The teasing would continue, yes, but I had people who could back me up.

And then there was Li Xiao. Even if Arthur wanted us to be friends, him and I couldn't work out as such. I couldn't jump to conclusions, though. That's what Mom taught me. Wait and things may end up to your liking. At the most, I would try. I wouldn't want to, nor enjoy it, but I would try.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay. I think I have enough homosexual peeps in this. Hah.<strong>  
><strong>Goodness, I hope you're all okay with USUK being in this. I'll try to cut down on other pairings now that Hong Kong is in this.<strong>  
><strong>Also, Arthur's home is based of my memory of my dear friend's old home. I loved it there!<strong>  
><strong>I realized that I write my best when listening to music from Tarzan!<strong>  
><strong>I love reviews everybody! Eagerly awaiting your thoughts!<strong>  
><strong>Hope you enjoyed!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter ended up being really short, huh? Oh well~. At least it's up quicker than the others.**

**_Name Guide_:**

**Li Xiao - Hong Kong**

**_Word Count_: 2,678**

**Hope you enjoy~.**

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><p>On the Wednesday of the next week, when I made my way into the foyer, there was another crowd of people. It wasn't the board they were surrounding, but a person. Well, I assumed it was a person. I wasn't sure what else they would be interested in. They were also asking questions. I wanted to go see who everyone was so interested in, but when I approached, Feliks interjected and dragged me away, saying it was of no interest. That didn't get rid of my nagging curiosity. I had a funny feeling that I knew exactly who it was, though.<p>

Math class was nothing special. It hadn't been the first week, either. Mr. Hassan honestly didn't do much and left most of the work to us. A few days into the school year, one of the students took advantage of it and began to act like an utter delinquent. He was promptly given five days of detention and had been quiet since. Lili and I were humored by it. Thankfully, Lili and I had gotten closer the first week and we spoke a great deal. It was really nice, and she had plenty of stories to tell me. I, in turn, told her the tales Lukas had told me when I was little. Her fascination was kind of cute.

English class turned out to be different that day. I hadn't noticed at first and only realized the minor difference when Angelique and Feliks pointed him out. Just my luck that said minor difference was conveniently staring right at me.

"Do you know that guy?" Feliks whispered, nudging me with his elbow.

"Him?" I looked to Li Xiao, who smirked back at me. I grimaced and turned to Feliks. "No, I don't."

When Miss Lacroix suggested that Li Xiao to introduce himself, he remained quiet at first. The class watched him intently, but it didn't seem to phase him one bit. After a bit of tempting, in which he ended up with a candy bar and a piece of gum in his pocket, he finally stood from his seat and shoved his hands into his pockets. He looked around the class, as if he were silently judging every single one of us. I wouldn't doubt it. That seemed in his character. His gaze eventually landed directly on me.

"My name is Li Xiao Wang." He paused to let some of the less mature students snicker. "I speak Cantonese, Mandarin and English fluently. I was born and raised in Hong Kong for part of my life. The only person I know in here is Emil. His accent is weird."

"That's very interesting," Miss Lacroix commented awkwardly as the class began to laugh, Angelique and Feliks included. They seemed to ignore how red my face obviously was. Li Xiao sat back down and looked at me. He was met with a glare. He simply shrugged and pulled out his candy bar, then started to eat it as Miss Lacroix calmed the class down and began the lesson. I noticed Feliks glance at me, most likely wondering why I had lied to him. For the entire period, I glared at the back of Li Xiao's head.

I decided then that I would most definitely ignore Arthur's wishes and not make friends with Li Xiao. Ever.

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><p>Fate must have despised me, because Li Xiao and I ended up having three more classes with each other. We ignored each other throughout them, as I had more important people to pay attention to, but I noticed every now and then he would be watching me.<p>

He stopped looking at me after a while. Other students distracted him. I was thankful to those ones, as much as I actually disliked them. There were a few instances where I saw others whisper and point to me. He would glance over, but just look away with a shrug. Guess he was learning of the multiple rumors. For some reason, I was scared he would believe them. He already teased my accent. I didn't need anything else.

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><p>After the school day ended, Lili asked if I would escort her home. I agreed quickly, because I noticed that Lukas seemed to be feeling under the weather and I didn't feel like bothering him by mistake. It would ultimately not end up good.<p>

As we were walking, we spoke about our day. She had a good one, and mine had been okay for the most part. I brought up Li Xiao by mistake and she immediately questioned who he was. I didn't want to answer, afraid she would laugh, but I realized she wouldn't do that to me.

"He's an exchange student of sorts, I guess," I told her. "He's actually living with Arthur Kirkland and his family."

"Aren't you friends with Arthur? Is that how you know Li Xiao?" she asked. I sighed and nodded.

"I met him this past weekend, and now he won't stop bugging me about my accent," I muttered, kicking a rock. Lili stayed quiet for a minute.

"I like your accent. It's refreshing and different." I looked at her.

"Really?"

"Yes. No one else in the school has one like it. Well, except for Lukas, but I don't actually speak with him regularly." She giggled a bit and looked up at me.

"So you like it when I talk?" I asked.

"Hmm, yes. I do." Her comments made me feel entirely better.

"Thank you."

"Also, try to ignore any teasing that Li Xiao does. I'm sure he doesn't mean any harm," she reassured. I shrugged.

"Perhaps not, but he heard the rumors, no doubt." I sighed again. "Maybe he's just teasing, but it may turn to something way more hurtful if he comes to think that I'm gay."

"On the bright side, if you are gay, you have people who will like you regardless," she said, smiling. "Me included. I couldn't dislike someone because of something as silly as that."

"So you don't have a problem with gay people?"

"Not at all." She walked ahead a small bit. "That's because I don't have a problem with love."

The topic ended there, for she switched to talking about something different, but her words really seemed to strike a cord in me. Or something like that.

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><p>I took Lili's advice and ignored anything that Li Xiao said. Which, honestly, wasn't much at all. He ended up completely disregarding me in favor of other people, which was a very good thing. We didn't speak until two weeks after the day he arrived at the school. We didn't even acknowledge each other when I visited Arthur. All in all, we were invisible to one another, just students who passed by each other in the hallways and happened to have a few classes together. In truth, I almost completely forgot he existed. I would have kept it that way too, if it hadn't been for one day in the library.<p>

I was staying after school, sitting at a table in the very back of book filled room. No one else was there, and I think the librarian was ready to go home. Se left after thirty minutes, leaving the library aid, Raivis Galante, in charge. He was nervous about it, but quickly came to be okay. All he did was organize and put away books.

The reason I stayed after hours was to study for an upcoming math test. Ah, my "favorite" subject. Anyways, going home would be troublesome. Mathias always ended up to be really distracting. Lukas was no different. The library was the perfect place for my quiet time.

The studying was going smoothly and I thought I could head home within the hour. The schedule was thrown off course when the door opened. I glanced up, barely saw the person who entered, looked to my notes, then looked up again, realizing it was Li Xiao. I tried to hide my face and willed him to leave quickly. My accent being made fun was not a want right now. Not that it ever was.

My mental urges failed when I heard a chair be pulled out. I refused to look over. My body got the better of me, though, and I stole a glance. To my surprise, he was looking at notes as well. I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe I _could _finish studying and leave before he said anything.

As the silence continued, I would occasionally look up. It took me a while to realize that he was gradually moving close and closer, scooting from one seat to the next. I copied his movements. It quickly became a silent chase that ended with me in the last chair and Li Xiao right next to me. That's when I quickly gathered my things and stood, only to be grabbed by the arm and forced back down into the seat. I turned, ready to tell him off, but my voice was silenced.

He was staring at me, his lips drawn into a thin line. His brows were furrowed and the grip on my arm seemed to tighten. I looked down at his hands. He had really slender, pretty looking fingers. But the most remarkable thing was his eyes. During our first meeting, I hadn't really looked at his eyes. From my memory, they had been hidden by his wet bangs. Now that I could actually see them, I was in awe. They were this golden brown. It almost seemed like they were glowing. The intensity, but melancholy softness in them was astounding. To me, those eyes were _beautiful._

"I don't get it. You don't look gay."

"Huh?" That was all I could muster. Thanks to those words, he killed the entire mood, if there ever was one. He let go of my arm and began to examine me carefully. I was in a state of shock, enough to where I didn't stop him.

"You don't look gay," he repeated, meeting my eyes. I stared, then stood again. I began to walk away at a quick pace. He stopped me by grabbing my shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"Somewhere you're not at!" I spat, yanking my shoulder away. The harsh tone seemed to surprise him, but I couldn't help that I was angry. It was _his _fault.

"What's with you?" he mumbled. "I thought gays were supposed to be proud or something."

"And I thought Asians were supposed to be fashionable." That seemed to hit home. I turned to face him. "Why do you keep calling me gay?"

"Everyone says you are." He paused when my eyes narrowed. "Are you?"

"No!" I exclaimed. He sighed.

"No wonder you don't look gay," he said quietly. He looked a bit awkward and sorry, but it wasn't enough to make me feel any less angry. I sighed and shook my head.

"Of course I don't look gay. No one does. In the end, we all look like people. Normal people. Because love is normal." I huffed, then paused and thought. What I had said was pretty deep, right? I had surprised myself. Li Xiao looked surprised as well.

"Well, that was inspiring," he said, moving closer to me. "Maybe we can be friends after all."

"Pardon me?"

"It hurts that you haven't approached me yet," he huffed.

"What?"

"Arthur wants you and I to be friends." He sat back down and picked up a pen, twirling it around. "Are you going to deny him that?"

"When it comes to you, yes." I glared, but he ignored it, evidently finding the pen more interesting.

"Why so harsh?" he questioned.

"Because you've been nothing but harsh to me." He sighed and set the pencil down.

"So revenge is the best policy? Boo. So uncool." He sounded a lot like Feliks. _Great._

"Sorry, but I have enough friends."

"Hm." He stared at me, his face still. "How about this? We meet here everyday next week. Then we can decide if we'll be friends or not."

"_We'll _decide?"

"Hey, it's not my fault for not wanting to hang out with someone that has such a weird accent."

"Your accent is strange too!"

"I'm proud of my accent!"

"So am I!"

We both huffed and look at the floor, our pride getting the better of us. It was silent for a moment before Li Xiao chuckled airily. I looked at him. He was faintly smiling at me, but in my eyes, it looked arrogant.

"You're weird," he said. I scoffed and looked away once again.

"Same goes for you." I glanced at him as he opened his mouth to say something, but he quickly closed it, looking almost embarrassed. "So, just next week, right?"

"Yeah, just next week. We can study together."

"Fine. It's a deal," I said, turning around to leave.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"Do you realize I wasn't holding your arm?"

"Huh?"

"You could have left at any time you wished. Why did you stay?"

I left at that moment, leaving him behind. I passed a confused looking Raivis and said a quick goodbye, then left the room and the building after my making my way through the hallways. The air was refreshing and everything smelled clean since it had been raining the entire day. It was nice. The cool air against my skin was nice. The outdoors was nice, I guess.

I chose to walk home instead of catch a bus. I didn't like the idea of being in a small, crowded area with a bunch of loud people I didn't know. Besides, I needed to gather my thoughts on the discussion Li Xiao and I had.

Personally, I wasn't too fond of the idea. Spending an entire week with him just was not appealing. Or maybe I was thinking into it too much. Maybe I would actually enjoy my time. Maybe he was different than what he let off. Maybe I should ignore the request. Tell him _'Hey, I don't want to be friends. Plain and simple.' _But then wouldn't I feel bad for not giving him the chance to prove himself worthy? I didn't want to feel guilty. I hated that feeling. Perhaps the only good part of the meetings would be his eyes.

Oh. His eyes. Those eyes would be nice to see more often. Only the eyes. I could do without the rest. Especially the attitude.

While walking and mentally battling with myself, I unconsciously began digging in my bag for my favorite pen. It was a blue and white fountain pen with my initials engraved into it. Mom got it for me on the Christmas the year before she passed away. Whenever I felt angry or upset or just plain confused, I would seek comfort in that pen and Mr. Puffin, despite how strange it seemed. I didn't care, really. Just as long as I could feel close to her again.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I couldn't find it. I immediately took the bag off my shoulder and looked in it again, disheveling it completely. The pen wasn't there. I had left it in the library. Wasn't it the one Li Xiao had been toying with? Wait, it was. I checked my watch, realizing it was far too late to go back to the library now. I decided I would get there early tomorrow and search high and low for it. I wouldn't stop until I found it, either.

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><p>Of course Li Xiao took it. Just my luck. He even left a stupid note telling me he had it. I didn't even have time that day to ask for it back and he was the kind to leave immediately when the last bell rang. He was plotting something. I just knew it. Then again, I could have been over thinking again. I needed to concentrate. But I couldn't without the pen there to hold onto. Yes, he was definitely planning it out. Everything. It made my head hurt just to think about it.<p>

Needless to say, I really wanted my pen back.

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><p><strong>Teenage freakouts and thoughts are the worst, huh?<strong>

**Also, being a library aid is fun! I enjoyed my time as one and I hope to volunteer at my local library next year~.**

**I like thinking of witty comebacks. I'm not entirely good at it, but it's fun. Hehe.**

**I'm going to try to get a lot of writing done during the Christmas event! Then again, I might be too distracted by it.  
><strong>

**Reviews are greatly appreciated! **

**Hope you enjoyed~.**


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